Amazon’s Kindle Fire set to take No. 2 spot in tablet market
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It’s been a mere two weeks since its much-hyped launch, and Amazon’s Kindle Fire has already shaken up the competitive tablet market. The 7-inch device is expected to surpass all other iPad rivals to take second place in the global media tablet business in the fourth quarter, according to information and analysis provider IHS.
The e-commerce giant will ship 3.9 million Kindle Fire tablets during the last three months of the year, IHS said, giving Amazon a 13.8% share of global media tablet shipments. That exceeds the 4.8% held by No. 3 Samsung.
Of course, the Kindle Fire still lags well behind the No. 1 tablet, Apple’s iPad 2, which holds a 65.6% share of the market.
IHS said the Kindle Fire’s ‘rapid ascent will help fuel the expansion of the entire market,’ with the additional shipments adding a 7.7% increase to the firm’s forecast of total media tablet shipments this year.
‘Nearly two years after Apple Inc. rolled out the iPad, a competitor has finally developed an alternative which looks like it might have enough of Apple’s secret sauce to succeed,’ Rhoda Alexander, senior manager of tablet and monitor research for IHS, said in a statement. ‘The production plans make it clear that Amazon is betting big on the product.’
IHS now predicts that global media tablet market shipments will total 64.7 million units in 2011, compared with the previous forecast issued in August of 60 million. The total shipment level represents 273% growth from 17.4 million units last year.
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-- Andrea Chang
