Despite my reluctance to compare Amazon’s Kindle Fire to Apple’s iPad, there’s no denying the popularity of the Kindle Fire, with reports of Amazon selling nearly 6 million units during the last quarter of 2011.
Analysts at Stifel Nicolas believe the Kindle Fire will emerge as a real threat to Apple’s infamous iPad, due to the device proving to be extremely popular in the very first quarter of its release.
The research firm believes that due to the huge popularity gained by the tablet within a such a short time frame, Amazon has succeeded in establishing itself as the third largest mobile eco system around today, coming just behind Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
Although, Amazon will have to continue to sell its Kindle Fire at a rapid pace to keep up with Apple, which continues to dominate the global tablet market, with over 15 million iPads sold in the fourth quarter of 2011.
“Amazon’s device proliferation strategy has broader implications than most appreciate,” Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Stifel Nicolas stated.
“Kindle Fire has staked out an important market position due to its loyal Amazon customer base and attractive (low) device pricing. We believe the lower hardware price will correlate with high e-book and video content attach rates,” he added.
Do you think the Kindle Fire will ever be a serious threat to Apple’s iPad? Could the Kindle Fire negatively impact the iPad’s sales?