After making a big splash last fall, sales for Amazon’s Kindle Fire have dropped - drastically. According to Tech Fortune, “Kindle Fire shipments falling from 4.8 million in the Christmas quarter to less than 750,000 units last quarter.”
"To put it short," wrote Paulo Santos Thursday in Seeking Alpha, "the Kindle eReader has dropped out of bed. It has fallen beyond the wildest dreams of Amazon.com's management."
"This is simply not a positive development," Santos concludes. "This is another development confirming the migration of e-reading from Amazon.com's controlled environment, to a larger set of devices.”
"(This) means that Amazon.com's attempt to mitigate Apple and Google's dominance has already failed."
Amazon is very secretive when it comes to sales figures. While their actual sales numbers aren’t known, these facts are known:
The IDC revealed that the Kindle Fire's share of the tablet market fell from 17% in Q4 2011, to just 4% in Q1 2012.
That’s a big drop! Even accounting for the drop after Christmas, because all tablets dropped then,
Amazon wants to dominate, but 4% is a far cry from dominating. (And Apple still holds over 70% of the tablet market.) Think Amazon has finally met a mountain peak it can’t occupy? Think consumers now want more sophisticated tablets?
As the owner of an iPad (my third I might add) I don't know why anyone would want a lesser tablet.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't interested in the Fire because I want *just* a reader...not something that can do anything else. And I don't like the idea of it being backlit...I've got enough eyestrain as it is!
ReplyDeleteI'm fine with my plain ole Kindle.
ReplyDeleteHi Diane .. interesting .. I don't have a Kindle or an iPad .. to see where this goes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the stats and info ..cheers Hilary
I have a regular Kindle and love it. I was looking at a friends Fire a couple of weeks ago and she was showing me all the cool stuff you could do, which is nice. But when she showed me a book, I know I wouldn't want to read on one. I will just keep using mine!
ReplyDeleteI have a Kindle Fire and like it because the kids can use it and if they break it then its only a couple hundred bucks. And it fits in my pocket. No complaints here.
ReplyDeleteI like my plain old kindle because it's light, easy to carry and I don't worry about breaking it. The only thing I hate is that I'm always losing it.
ReplyDeleteNice posting. I don't have a Kindle. I was so upset when our two big name book stores closed here I said I would boycott the Kindle. :) That is funny on the numbers given in the posting especially when I still see ads that Amazon is boasting a #1 product. You just called them out.
ReplyDeleteI have a Nook for reading, which I pretty much only use for books not available in print, and don't own a tablet of any kind. But it's good to hear there is something Amazon has not run roughshod over.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, backlit really isn't a problem.
ReplyDeleteJo-Jo, I think a lot of people felt that way.
Gossip Girl, they are lying!
LD, that is how I feel. Amazon's dominance makes me nervous, but they are at the back of the pack when it comes to tablets. My in-laws have Nooks and love them.
The 4% refers only to the Fire, right? Not all Kindle models? I love my Kindle, but honestly, I think more competition is better for the consumer.
ReplyDeleteI lost my sizzle for it when I learned about all the restrictions on lending e-books. I hope they make some big changes soon!
ReplyDeleteI have an older Kindle and I love it. I like that there's lots of competition out there though :)
ReplyDeleteI don't own a Kindle, I have always wanted an Ipad but as yet been unable to afford it. Lucky Alex on his third ....lol
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
I think people do want a tablet that can do everything. What will Amazon do? They'll fight to get back the consumers.
ReplyDeleteHa, the Kindle Fire never became available in Oz, so even though I was holding out for one, now I don't care. I've never been able to decide between the iPad and Kindle, so continue to read through my Kindle Cloud. On my little netbook it's just like reading an iPad. Believe me, I have tested out all online readers!!
ReplyDeleteDenise
Oww, ouch! Looks like the mighty amazon has met it's match!
ReplyDeleteJai