Apple's decision to chop $100 off the price of a will pressure tablet makers to trim their prices to stay competitive, according to the deal watchers at .

Rather than shelve the new iPad's predecessor, as it did with the original iPad, Apple decided to continue selling the iPad 2 starting at -- $349 at some discounters. That will prod other tablet makers to reassess their pricing structure, Dealnews reasons in its monthly analysis of deal trends.

"[N]on-Apple slate manufacturers will feel compelled to respond aggressively, and as such we've already seen a new all-time low on the Amazon Kindle Fire," it observes. "Could this be a sign of things to come from other tablets as well?"

Not everyone sees the iPad 2's pricing as much of a factor on the pricing at the low end of the market where the Kindle Fire lives. that the iPad 2's pricing is designed to blunt competition from the growing number of 10-inch tablets in the $300-$400 price bracket.

Nevertheless, changes appear to be in the winds, according to . Decide combs the Internet for intelligence on pricing to predict price moves on products. Of the , the website recommends only one as a "buy now" because its price isn't likely to drop­ -- Motorola's Xoom tablet.