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Amazon Selling 50k Kindle Fires a Day!

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That’s what one Android blog is reporting, and I have no reason to doubt them.

Cult of Android has scored an exclusive screenshot from Amazon internal stock tracking system. The screen shot at right was taken Monday, and it shows how many orders Amazon received for the Kindle Fire and it shows how many orders will shipped by each of Amazon’s warehouses. This is either a clever forgery or the real thing. Given its layout, I think it’s real.

And that means that in the five days since the Kindle Fire launched, Amazon received orders for 254,000 Kindle Fire Android tablets.

It’s common among gadget bloggers to refer to an iPad market and a tablet market as 2 separate things. That might have to change. The Kindle Fire may have just propelled Android tablets up into the iPadosphere. Of course, this might only affect the Kindle Fire, so we’ll have to wait and see.

If this demand holds up, we’re looking at over 2 million Kindle Fires ordered before it ships in November. That is not only the largest tablet launch in history, it’s also more than either the iPad sold in its first month and we might even see the Kindle Fire outsell the 2.5 million iPad 2 sold in its first month of availability.

To put these sales in perspective, the RIM Playbook only sold 250 thousand in its first month and the Motorola Xoom, Google’s flagship Android tablet, only sold a 100k.

I think matching the iPad 2 number is a little out of reach, but even so this is a stellar achievement. Amazon might not have unseated Apple as the king of the tablet., but they did give Apple’s throne a solid kick. Amazon also knocked aside all existing tablet manufacturers and took a close second place to Apple.

Then again, I’m not so sure that Amazon will keep that position. Barnes & Noble have sold quite a few NookColors since it launched last year (millions, at least), and they have a new tablet coming. The NookColor Acclaim could be the tablet to unseat the Kindle Fire, or at least turn this into a 3 way fight.

BTW, I’m now expecting B&N to launch the Acclaim in the next couple weeks. They need to get the Acclaim out in view before any of the Kindle Fire orders ship. They need to astound all of us before it’s too late for them to get our money.


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Comments


Peter October 4, 2011 um 3:12 pm

I actually thought this was a little low. I was expecting an instantaneous sellout.

Here’s a big part of what is driving this:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=amazon+fire&_sacat=See-All-Categories

BRAND NEW AMAZON KINDLE 4 FIRE- WiFi – ONLY-PRE-ORDER
7 inch Android!!sold over 4000+ to 75+ countries!!

———————————————————————————————

It’s basically an arbitrage sale: order a Kindle Fire and sell it at a $20-$30 markup for parts/rooting in international markets where they aren’t currently available.

Since it is well known that they only have 4 million units the laws of supply and demand should allow ebay resellers to make quite a tidy profit.


fjtorres October 4, 2011 um 6:27 pm

Nate, I would suggest you look to the single biggest difference between the current Nook Color and the Fire as a driver behind the high pre-order numbers and the ebay arbitrage bids.

Namely that Fire is an open android tablet that dosn’t require hacking to install compatible apps. If you want to install Kobo, Aldiko, Txtr, Coolreader3, or overdrive, Amazon isn’t going to stop you. (I’ve even seen published reports that Netflix will be available alongside Twitter and Facebook.)

Now, all else being equal (screen, processor, etc, and, ahem, price, 😉 ), which would you prefer? An open Android tablet or a locked ebook reader with tablet features?

Fire’s early accepance and hype now has B&N under pressure to unlock the Encore and Acclaim and compete openly for ebook sales on their ebook "tablets". Personally, I hope they accept the challenge and give Fire a run for my money, but if they don’t they’ll have to add a *lot* of value in software or take the price even lower.
(How feasible would it be for Encore to be NookColor at $150?)

Syn October 4, 2011 um 6:38 pm

Where did you hear its open? Aside from Amazon’s own App store are we able to side load apps on it?


fjtorres October 4, 2011 um 7:44 pm

Yes, you can either download and install from the browser or sideload from a PC.

It’s been in the various reports (PCMAG, PCWORLD, etc) where Amazon expains they expect the Fire to get rooted and, while they’re not going to help they’re not going to fight it.
Here’s one:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Amazon-Kindle-Fire-NOOK-Color-honeycomb-Gingerbread,news-12700.html


Amazon Bumped Kindle Fire Order to 5 Million Units – The Digital Reader November 10, 2011 um 8:52 am

[…] if they’re true then it would mean that Kindle Fire orders have picked up significantly since that first leaked report a month ago. Amazon’s system showed that they’d gotten a quarter of a […]


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