The Kindle Fire is getting about as much traction as the original iPad did.
Analyst Jordan Rohan estimates that 6 million Kindle Fire tablets have been sold, which puts it right on par with the rate of sales of Apple’s first iPad. That is a pretty good level to match.
“Amazon’s device proliferation strategy has broader implications than most appreciate. Tablets including iPad and Kindle Fire are rapidly taking share from PCs and notebooks. Kindle Fire has staked out an important market position due to its loyal Amazon customer base and attractive (low) device pricing,” said Rohan.
At $200, the Kindle Fire is an impulse purchase. For the first time, there is an affordable tablet that actually delivers on content and performance.
Amazon of course has a big advantage in that the Kindle Fire gets as much free publicity as it wants on the world’s largest online retailer, a.k.a. Amazon.
But even beyond the attractive price and the massive ads on Amazon.com, the Kindle Fire is successful for another reason – it has the name “Kindle” in it. If you were asked to say the names of five Android tablets in 10 seconds, could you? The Kindle Fire would most likely be one of the first ones you say, just because “Kindle” has become part of American lexicon, just like iTunes, iPad, and iPhone.
Clearly Amazon knows what it is doing, and even with that low price point it appears to be raking it in. The custom interface that encourages users to buy digital content on Amazon – movies, TV shows, e-books, and MP3 files – seems to be working.
Of course, the rate of sales for the iPad 2 far outpaced that of the original iPad. What will we see when the Kindle Fire 2 is released?
