"LTE is becoming a "must have" for a bigger group of consumers, so it may be more about Amazon addressing market desires than really having LTE as a feature set." Gold said.

"The vast majority of users only deploy tablets over WiFi anyway. If you're going to build a 'Cadillac' device, then HD, LTE and great sound are required by market pressures," he added.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at , or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .

in Computerworld's Tablets Topic Center.