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Amazon Kindle Fire tablets arrive a day early

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Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet hit consumers’ doorsteps Monday, arriving a day early to many of those who pre-ordered the much-hyped 7-inch slate.

The $199 tablet has been pegged by many tech analysts and pundits as the first tablet that has a real shot at becoming a blockbuster seller outside of Apple’s hit iPad line.

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‘We’re thrilled to be able to ship Kindle Fire to our customers earlier than we expected,’ said Dave Limp, the vice president of Amazon’s Kindle team, in a statement. ‘Kindle Fire quickly became the bestselling item across all of Amazon.com, and based on customer response we’re building millions more than we’d planned.’

Limp described the Fire as a premium product at a non-premium price. Indeed, the price is a key selling point for many.

Another big factor the Fire’s success thus far is Amazon’s ability to deliver content, and lots of it, to its tablet -- which has been a problem for most Android tablets on the market.

To ensure content is plentiful and consumed, Amazon is giving Fire buyers a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, its $79 yearly service that provides free video streaming and free shipping for items purchased from Amazon.com.

The Fire technically runs on Google’s Android operating system, but it’s a highly customized version of Android that focuses user activity toward content consumption from (where else?) Amazon, which has millions of e-books for sale alongside more than 17 million songs, more than 100,000 movies and TV shows and thousands of Android apps -- all from its own storefronts.

Amazon has been projected to sell about 3 million to 5 million Fire tablets before the year is up. However, the Seattle-based retailer has never released specific Kindle sales numbers and that’s not expected to change with the Fire.

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Did you order an Amazon Kindle Fire? If so, did it arrive today? If not, are you buying or have you purchased a competing tablet -- a Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet, Kobo Vox or iPad 2?

Feel free to sound off in the comments.

RELATED:

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet to allow Hulu Plus TV streaming

Amazon Kindle Fire tablet: $199, 7-inch screen, ships Nov. 15

Amazon to produce 5 million Kindle Fire tablets this year, report says

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

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