Amazon fights Apple with Fire

Amazon launched the range of products it hopes will take a bite out of Apple's dominance of the tablet market yesterday. But the centrepiece Kindle Fire – a potential rival to the iPad – will only be available in the US, the company's CEO, Jeff Bezos said.

The touchscreen computer, which is smaller than Apple's device with a 7-inch display, is also markedly cheaper at £127. It has the capacity for 100,000 films, 17 million songs, and magazines.

Amazon already dominates the e-reader market with its older Kindle products, but the new line's higher quality displays and ability to cater for more media platforms is being interpreted as an all-out attack on the iPad 2.