• The Guardian, Tuesday, September 6, 2011 11:40 AM

Amazon's anticipated tablet strategy will disrupt Apple's mobile mission in a way that Google can't. So says the Guardian's Charles Arthur, noting that: "The key difference between Amazon and Google is that one of them holds millions of credit cards and is a famous name in retail." Adds Arthur: "Amazon is a conduit to lots of content; and, just as importantly, it already has a way for you to buy content from it."

Google, despite its mobile progress, lacks that critical financial relationship with consumers. "By contrast Apple and Amazon are familiar as transaction handlers: Apple has 200m iTunes accounts, of which a very significant number have credit cards attached." Meanwhile, "Amazon, by building its own app store, has the chance to overturn the established order," according to Arthur.

"It's the first proper challenge that the iPad will face in terms of a rival that can offer not just a product, but also something to fill the product." It's also worth noting, that, along with Apple and Amazon, Microsoft (through its Xbox Live system) is one of the 10 biggest merchant holders of credit card numbers in the world.

Read the whole story at The Guardian »