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The Kindle Fire quickly became the top-selling Android tablet in the market, but it seems their success is not lasting as long as one would think. In fact, it is probably becoming the top declining Android tablet, as well.
According to IDC’s study of global shipments, Amazon’s Kindle Fire quickly became the second top-selling tablet in the market during Q4, 2011 (After the iPad). With a 16.8% market share, the company managed to ship over 4.8 million units in just one quarter. Things are not looking very bright for Amazon now, though.
The Kindle Fire has seen a substantial decrease in sales during Q1, 2012. Its share went down to a mere 4%, over a fourth less than what it was during the past quarter.
But what could be the reason? Current Android devices are known for having a short lifespan. Phones and tablets tend to be way outdated in less than a year. But lower-end, affordable products experience this phenomena in a much stronger manner.
The Kindle Fire stormed through the market due to its substantially lower price. It was definitely the best bang for your buck, then. But with technology moving forward, and prices lowering, these affordable devices tend to be overshadowed by the new guys much quicker.
We have the ASUS Transformer Pad 300 going for as low as $379.99. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is going for $250. Hell, the Nexus Tablet is rumored to cost no more than $250, and that will be Tegra 3 tablet. The Kindle Fire simply has too much competition now. It is no longer as relevant, as other manufacturers are now releasing better tablets with similar price tags.
We will have to see how Amazon plays its game in the future, but the company is still not doing bad. Owning 4% of the market with a single device could still be considered a success. It just happened to see a very quick fall. What do you guys say? Will Amazon be as successful now that other manufacturers are releasing competitive tablets (both in specs and price)?
[Source: IDC Via: All Things Digital]
Nexus Tab will blow it away!
I love the iSheep and their “iPads sold 55 million u so far, look how good we are” elitism :/
ya 55 million to the same 12 million people that bought the iPad1, then the 2, then the 3 plus bought their herds them as gifts too… 55 million my arse!
So what you’re saying is that Apple’s products are so good that it’s not only able to bring in new customers, but keep their current customers so happy that they give Apple their repeat business??
Grow up. You’d give anything for an Android maker to be in the exact same position. Instead of making something decent that keeps customers coming back for more, you resort to insults and name-calling to happy consumers. You sir, have simply proved how childish fandroids really are.
lol, absolutely not. The iSheep buy what they’re told… and each year they buy another iDevice because the last one doesn’t do something apple tells them they need (but they don’t) or they force a upgrade like Siri and the iP4s which is a iP4 with some old iPad 2 parts and a free app called Siri that was on the iP4 which now doesn’t work on said iP4. Awesome way to treat customers…t hat’s just it, they aren’t ‘customers’ they are iSheep and iSheep buy what they’re told!
I don’t follow any one product or company, I like google, ms, dell, samsung, hp, motorola, sony, mitsubishi, toshiba and so many more. I buy what’s best and what’s best is never a crapple product.
My laptop cost $450 is is 3 years old and has years left. My 360 is 7 years old, cost $300. I, like many non iSheep in this world, like value and state-of-the-art technology. Not forced incremental upgrades and magical (err… mythical) features apple forces on their herd, year after year. Inflating their numbers with the same 12 million iSheep buying the same product with a slight upgrade for a premium OVER-price year after year.
Windows also gets a ton of repeat business. You won’t find too many Apple users claiming that its a great product. You should grow up and realize there are more things in play here than simply a “great product”.
I am so sick of iSheep telling me to grow up because my views are against Apple products. Read my words, watch my videos, you don’t have to agree with them but the views are valid. I am grown up and iDon’t like Apple products or how Apple chooses to do business and I can express my strong views against Apple and iSheep everywhere.
p.s. iKnow I lose some credibility with the iSheep namecalling. iKnow this but it’s just so hard to not call it like iSee iT! and if the iSheep fits…
Oh, give me a break! Do you have ANY proof that the rampant iPad sales is propped up by a few devoted fans that makes up only a portion of the total market interested in portable PCs? Are you just angry because Apple figured out how to charge a premium for the same HW as everyone else before you did? You’re childish name calling and bantering doesn’t validate your view. And no, I don’t own, and have never owned, any iPad ever. I’m just a developer following industry trends carefully, and obviously more carefully and objectively than you :P
Probably the fact they made it so that it was very difficult to do anything that didn’t involve using Amazon services didn’t help. Although I’m sure one could put a custom ROM on the thing and bypass all that most people don’t buy these to do that.
there’s nothing difficult about it. You can sideload app quite easily just like any other android device. I was able to sideload nearly everything from my phone to my son’s kindle fire. I only recently rooted and flashed the google apps because he was still swiping my gs2 to play wreckless getaway and I couldn’t sideload that due to some drm issue.
KF is a great device, would I buy one again? Probably not with the tab2 at 249 but it’s still a really awesome device especially if you can grab one at $139 refurbed.
Christmas shopping, not much beyond that.
AMAZON is in good shape for the long-term w/the KF,as most owners will hang on to them & purchase content from AMAZON for their tablet.
The Fire is still $50 cheaper than the Galaxy Tab…and I got mine refurb for $139. Plus the Galaxy Tab is made by Samsung… and as a owner of a Samsung Droid Charge, I won’t be buying a Samsung device again
I don’t doubt your experience with your sammy, but i’ve put my captivate through the rigors and will gladly buy another. So long as Its supported by the Cynogenmod guys.
I bought my dad a Kindle Fire for Christmas, and I won’t be buying a Kindle device again.
Couple of additional theories:
– Fire went on sale during the holiday season, so of course there’s going to be a fall.
– The $399 iPad 2 might be picking a number of people who were considering the Fire.
yes getting rid of google services on the fire was a big mistake.
Nothing shocking here. The media and even Android blogs completely misread this whole thing. Its simply not a tablet. The people that gobbled these things up were simply Kindle loving people that wanted the next evolution of the Kindle. For that its great and they got what they wanted. But its not a general tablet computing device and once the real Kindle fans get theirs you won’t see a lot of sales until the next version provided it brings something new to the table. But everybody decided to run off screaming about this being some sort of hit tablet.
Absolutely agree with this, and something I’ve been saying since the KF was announced. Calling my Camry a Porsche doesn’t make it one, nor does calling a KF a tablet make it one either.
Noppppee. You guys are dumb. The only real thing this lacks is a camera!
The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 with ICS is a much better option, even though it’s $250. There’s also Google’s tablet coming up soon. There’s no reason for Android users to buy the Kindle Fire anymore, which besides the low-price point, is what really pushed the Kindle Fire to popularity.
“With a 16.8% market share, the company managed to ship over 4.8 million units in just one quarter. Things are not looking very bright for Amazon now, though.
The Kindle Fire has seen a substantial decrease in sales during Q1, 2012. Its share went down to a mere 4%, over a fourth less than what it was during the past quarter.”
A market share of 4% is more than a 75% drop from 16.8%, or “less than one fourth” of its previous value. “Over a fourth less” would more accurately describe a 12% market share.
kindle fire 2 anyone? stock android? beast specs? get on it amazon.
If you mainly want a color Kindle with the ability to surf the interned and play Android games then so what? I’m betting a fire2 is probably just around the corner.
Yeah, maybe if they’d finally release it for Europe, things might turn better for them…
I bought a Kindle Fire for cheap this week, and I can see why sales fell off the cliff – the stock ROM on it really sucks if it’s being marketed as even an Android pseudo-tablet. But after taking 1 hour to root, flash Hashcode Kernel 3.0 ICS ROM, and flashing Gapps, this became one of the best Android tablets I’ve held. The smaller form factor with the killer SoC makes it awesome as everything became buttery smooth with HD video, and I have to wonder why Amazon just doesn’t provide an ICS upgrade for users to show it off. The only things missing from the tablet now are camera and bluetooth.
Got mine in January. Works great as a tablet if rooted (mine is, running CM7). What else am I going to do with a tablet other than browse the internet, play a few games, and read books? It does everything I need.