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New 9-inch Amazon Kindle Fire due out in summer
Sylvie Barak
2/10/2012 4:57 PM EST
SAN FRANCISCO--Analysts have fueled rumors of an upcoming addition to Amazon’s Kindle Fire family, with the new 9-inch model set to launch later this year.
Pacific Crest analyst Chad Bartley mentioned the upcoming form factor in his shipment forecast on Thursday noting, “We believe there is an upward bias, particularly from the new 7- and 9-inch models, which we expect to launch in mid-2012.”
Bartley predicted that full-year Kindle Fire shipments would total 14.9 million units, up from a previous estimate of 12.7 million, but still lagging far behind Apple’s iPad sales which reached 15 million units in the last quarter alone.
Strategy Analytics recently reported that global tablet shipments had risen to a record 26.8 million units in the last three months of 2011, up from 10.7 million a year earlier, with Apple still dominating the space with 58 percent market share.
Overall global tablet sales totaled 67 million units in 2011, according to Transparency Market Research.
Nevertheless, a new tablet from Amazon due out in the summer, not even a year after the release of the 7-inch Kindle Fire, shows Amazon’s commitment to the space, with other reports claiming a 10-inch tablet is also in the works.
The Kindle Fire does seem to be consuming a bit of Amazon’s more traditional Kindle eReader market, however, with Bartley predicting the Seattle e-tailer would only ship some 24 million units, instead of the previously predicted 28.6 million.
Earlier this month, at DesignCon in Santa Clara, we tore down an Amazon Kindle and compared it to Barnes and Noble's Nook Color. You can watch that video below:
Pacific Crest analyst Chad Bartley mentioned the upcoming form factor in his shipment forecast on Thursday noting, “We believe there is an upward bias, particularly from the new 7- and 9-inch models, which we expect to launch in mid-2012.”
Bartley predicted that full-year Kindle Fire shipments would total 14.9 million units, up from a previous estimate of 12.7 million, but still lagging far behind Apple’s iPad sales which reached 15 million units in the last quarter alone.
Strategy Analytics recently reported that global tablet shipments had risen to a record 26.8 million units in the last three months of 2011, up from 10.7 million a year earlier, with Apple still dominating the space with 58 percent market share. Overall global tablet sales totaled 67 million units in 2011, according to Transparency Market Research.
Nevertheless, a new tablet from Amazon due out in the summer, not even a year after the release of the 7-inch Kindle Fire, shows Amazon’s commitment to the space, with other reports claiming a 10-inch tablet is also in the works.
The Kindle Fire does seem to be consuming a bit of Amazon’s more traditional Kindle eReader market, however, with Bartley predicting the Seattle e-tailer would only ship some 24 million units, instead of the previously predicted 28.6 million.
Earlier this month, at DesignCon in Santa Clara, we tore down an Amazon Kindle and compared it to Barnes and Noble's Nook Color. You can watch that video below:
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chanj
2/10/2012 6:15 PM EST
One of the many factors that drives consumers to the new Kindle Fire from iPad would be the 16:9 form factor. Would you rather have a 4:3 iPad or 16:9 Kindle Fire?
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yalanand
2/10/2012 11:50 PM EST
I don't think new 9-inch model from Amazon will have major impact because Apple is also releasing its iPad 3 with Siri and larger screen. It would be tough for Amazon to compete with Apple tablets.
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Sanjib.Acharya
2/11/2012 7:04 AM EST
I think one of the major driving factors behind Kindle Fire's success is the price. Any idea on the price of the 9 inch Kindle Fire?
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t.alex
2/12/2012 7:23 AM EST
Yes, i am curious about this too. Another lowcost?
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hm
2/11/2012 6:31 PM EST
Does Amazon has its own design team for these new devices or do they contract this out? It will be interesting to know product development infrastructure at Amazon.
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elctrnx_lyf
2/12/2012 6:06 AM EST
Is apple going to increase the screen size from the current size of 10inch. But the move by fire to move up to 9 inch display will certainly be a good idea.
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GREAT-Terry
2/12/2012 8:48 PM EST
It was just heard that Apple is also planning to build 7" iPad in order to compete with Kindle Fire. So, they are really fighting hard with each other.
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Neo1
2/12/2012 11:19 PM EST
I don't get it why Amazon is vying with Ipad for it's e-reader gadget. An e-reader in whatever form cannot displace and Ipad, so it would be better if Amazon instead concentrate on kindle's value to cusotmer as the best e-reader+something.
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SylvieBarak
2/13/2012 11:32 AM EST
Not the Kindle e-reader... the Kindle Fire tablet. It's quite different. I own both a Kindle and a Kindle Fire, and I use them both for entirely different reasons. I can actually see myself "upgrading" to a 9 inch Kindle fire when it comes out, especially if it's priced at way below the iPad. $200 for the Kindle Fire was the perfect price point. I'd pay up to $300 for a bigger version.
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chanj
2/13/2012 12:10 PM EST
Low cost may be the reason why consumer buys Kindle Fire instead of iPad. I believe the form factor may have something to do with it. I have heard from multiple friends of mine that they like Kindle Fire for movie and even for the popular Angry Bird game. The reason is simply 16:9 screen size.
To most product management, if the sales fo a product doesn't meet expectation, they wouldn't go for next version. I guess Kindle Fire has met sales expectation. Let's see how the new version go.
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Frank Eory
2/13/2012 12:50 PM EST
I would love to see consumer research on this, but I think you're right -- price is the biggest driver. I suspect that if you remove the issue of price, a very large percentage of Kindle Fire purchasers would have preferred an iPad.
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tb1
2/13/2012 11:17 PM EST
If you remove the issue of price, a very large percentage of Toyota purchasers would buy BMWs.
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ReneCardenas
2/14/2012 7:24 PM EST
tb1, but then again, BMW would not be able to keep up with world-level demand, if we all wanted one. ;-) So, there is always room for multiple vendors/MFG. No matter what is the price range.
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