An article in the Wall Street Journal (Sept 28, 2011) described the $ 199 pricing for the Amazon Fire – a color tablet that works using wi-fi, has a smaller screen (7 in) than the iPad, has free access to the Cloud for Amazon content and can be used to read, check email etc. Described by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos as a piece of hardware that enables customers to access services it provides i.e., music, books, movies, games etc – the device’s choices enables it to enter the market at a substantially lower price point than the competition.  Given the iPad’s dominance of the tablet market, is a significantly lower price stripped down capability entrant the optimal strategy for Amazon ? Given the Fire’s dependence on Google for the Android operating system, does that decrease Amazon’s ability to control the Fire and its impact ? What do you expect from a Microsoft operating system based tablet in the future – given the impending launch of Windows 8 ?