Amazon Cuts Price of Entry-Level Tablet to $49, Adds Alexa in All Three Fire TV Products

Amazon lowered the entry point for top-brand tablets Thursday amid preseason retail jockeying for consumers’ dollars. In a buy-five-get-one-free deal, Amazon is offering a “six-pack” of Fire tablets for $250 using the code “Cases6pack.” Starting price for the Fire is $49 for a 7-inch, 8 GB version with a microSD slot for expanded storage. The company launched three more tablets this year -- the Fire HD 8 ($149), Fire HD 10 ($229) and Fire Kids Edition ($99, including two-year guarantee) -- while keeping the Fire HD 6 ($99) from last year. In the Fire TV line, Amazon introduced three devices, all with Alexa voice integration. The 4K Ultra HD Fire TV is said to be 75 percent more powerful than the previous version while coming in at $99. Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote ($39) adds voice search, and Fire TV Gaming Edition bundles Fire TV, a game controller, 32 GB microSD card and Shovel Knight and DuckTales games for $139, Amazon said. The company gave its Alexa digital assistant more smarts, it said, with support for shared Google calendars, integration of additional connected home devices from SmartThings and Insteon and the ability to read out NCAA football scores and schedules, Amazon said. For Q3, Amazon’s net sales grew 23 percent to $25.4 billion, up from $20.6 billion in the year-ago quarter, the company said. Operating income was $406 million in Q3, compared with an operating loss of $544 million in Q3 2014. The company had a profit of $79 million versus a $437 million loss in the year-ago quarter, it said. For Q4, Amazon forecasts sales of $33.5 billion to $36.75 billion, with growth of 14 to 25 percent.