Amazon’s 7 inch Kindle Fire, which starts shipping to customers in less than a week, is showing all the signs of becoming a holiday hit. According to the folks at DigiTimes, who cover the mobile industry and more importantly the factories that pump out all these new fangled gadgets that we just can’t get enough of, Amazon has “already raised its order volume once in the middle of the third quarter, up from 3.5 million units originally to four million units.” Well, looks like the online retail giant is going to have to tweak their order yet again, bringing the total to 5 million units to be manufactured by the end of this year. If it sounds impressive … what did you expect would happen when a company with such brand as strong as Amazon’s would introduce a $200 tablet? The most surprising thing about all this is that Amazon is still only taking orders for the Kindle Fire for people living in the United States. Remember the first Kindle, the ugly one? That never left America’s shores. International audiences had to wait for the second version. Is the same thing going to happen to the Fire?
Speaking about the second generation Kindle Fire, we’ve been hearing rumors that it’s going to come out really soon, as in Q1 2012. It’ll sport an 8.9 inch screen, be much better designed, but sadly we have no idea how much it’s going to cost. Screens are one of, if not the most, expensive component of a device, and assuming Amazon doesn’t want to cut corners when it comes to display, you’re looking at a potential $350 or even $400 price tag.
Anyway, expect to hear more about the Kindle Fire and whether or not it’s worth your time and money once it lands in people’s hands next Wednesday. Reading a book off a flickering LCD doesn’t really sound too appealing, but you never know, Amazon might pull it off beautifully.