Report: Kindle Fire pre-orders reach 250K

It’s very possible that more people could be getting a Kindle Fire on launch day than was the case with the original iPad.

According to the blog Cult of Android, pre-orders of the company’s flagship tablet device have reached 250,000 units after being announced just a few days ago.

Cult of Android claims to have received data directly from Amazon via an unnamed source, and said it shows that Kindle Fire pre-orders have been climbing at a rate of 2,000 per hour.

At over 250,000 pre-orders, the Kindle Fire could be a record breaker. There’s still more than a month before the tablet’s November 15 launch date, and with an attractive $199 price point and holiday spending habits poised to do nothing but increase interest in the device, that number is sure to swell even greater.

Apple managed to sell 300,000 of the original iPad on launch day. Granted, that was much more expensive but in the tablet race, hardware revenue is less important than unit sales.

The Kindle Fire sports a 7-inch touchscreen color display. This puts it in line with the Blackberry Playbook, the smaller version of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, the newly announced version of Toshiba’s Thrive, and a growing segment of the tablet market that seems to be shying away from the iPad’s less-portable-friendly 10-inch model.

The Kindle Fire will be powered by Android but will have some unique interface features. A ‘carousel’ interface shows your most recent apps and content at the top of the display for easy access.

As for Amazon-specific features, users will have direct integration with Amazon Cloud Drive, making it easy to store and retrieve files from anywhere in the world, regardless of where you initially saved them.

In addition, there will be instant access to Kindle books as well as full-color magazines.