Amazon Expected to Unveil New Kindle Fire

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) – Amazon.com is expected to update its Kindle Fire tablet computer on Thursday.

It will be an effort to take a larger share of a tablet computer market dominated by Apple’s iPad. It could help Amazon.com Inc. boost sales of digital goods such as e-books and movies.

The announcement at a former airplane hangar in Santa Monica, Calif., will feature CEO Jeff Bezos. He announced the first Kindle Fire in New York less than a year ago. The price tag was $199, about half the price of the cheapest iPad now available.

Amazon has pursued the strategy of selling lower-priced tablets at razor-thin, if any, profit margins in order to boost sales of digital items from its online store. The Kindle Fire has a smaller screen than the iPad.