Battle for cheaper tablets heating up

The introductions of the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet opened up a new segment of the tablet computer market, one that's centered on low-cost devices that still contain many popular features. Now it appears these newcomers are helping to drive overall tablet sales.

With uncertainty still surrounding the global economic recovery, account balances are a primary consideration when looking to purchase a device.

Furthermore, low-cost devices have gained a following among people who are looking for the benefits of a tablet without the bells and whistles. Both the Kindle Fire and the Nook have experienced strong sales, despite running a limited version of Google's Android™ operating system.

Users can still surf the web, download applications and enjoy much of the media consumption benefits that other, more expensive devices offer.

A blog post from Forrester Research recently noted that the low-cost segment of the tablet market will help to drive overall sales. That's because, the firm notes, it has opened tablet ownership to a larger portion of the overall consumer population.