Amazon, Google, Dell to Take on iPad With Dell Streak Tablet

Apple was able to achieve dominance in the MP3 player arena by closely marrying hardware and software, a formula that it has extended to its success with the iPhone and the App Store. As the company gets ready to ship the iPad, the next phase in that evolution, Amazon, Dell, and Google are teaming up on the Dell Streak tablet, which will run the Android OS and have access to 300,000-plus e-books in the Kindle store, more than 11 million songs in Amazon’s MP3 store, and in excess of 50,000 movies and TV shows for rent or purchase.

“Taken together, this mirrors what iTunes offers for Apple devices, giving hardware manufacturers such as Dell a way to kick-start plans to take on the iPad,” noted Wired. The information came from a pair of slides leaked from a Dell presentation and posted at Engadget. The Dell Streak will have 3G wireless access to the Kindle store for free; its form factor is similar to the iPad’s.

And the device is just the tip of the iceberg: ARM executive Roy Chen on Wednesday said during a press meeting in Taipei that more than 50 tablet PC devices will launch around the world this year, according to PC World. He declined to name specific companies, other than Compal Electronics, who had two Android-powered tablet devices on display at the press conference.

The Dell Streak, courtesy of Engadget