There had been rumours that the Kindle Fire cost more to build than Amazon was selling it for, and that rumour is true. According to iSuppli, every one of those tiny tablets costs $US201.70 to build.
The display is the most costly component in the Kindle fire, costing $US87 to build. Other components, such as the RAM, battery and the case all cost around $US15-$US25. As for the lack of profit margins, Amazon losing money on the hardware isn’t particularly shocking, since they’ll just make it back in book/magazine/music/video sales (which as AllThingsD astutely points out, is the exact opposite of Apple’s approach to hardware and content selling). But it’s always a risk. [iSuppli via AllThingsD]