Online retailer Amazon triggered the price war in the tablet PC market by introducing its own tablet, called the Kindle Fire, which costs less than half the price of rivals like the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Amazon had long been rumored to launch a color, tuchscreen version of its time-honored Kindle as a rival to the iPad.

The 7-inch Kindle Fire has been priced at $199 as compared with $499-price tag of the entry level iPad. The attractive price tag of the Amazon’s tablet is widely expected to help the online retailer in snatching a considerable market share from its biggest rival, the Apple iPad, which has been dominating the global tablet market since its launch.

The Kindle Fire offers 8GB of storage and Wi-Fi function. But, it hasn’t any built-in camera.

The Amazon Kindle Fire will be released on 15th of November. Best Buy has already started taking pre-orders for the new tablet, and the device will be in stores by the time for the holidays.

A bunch of new, redesigned black-&-white Kindle e-readers will also debut by the holidays. The entry-level Kindle has been priced at $79, while the new Kindle Touch and the 3G-enable Kindle Touch will cost $99 and $149 respectively.