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Citi Analyst Mark Mahaney predicts Amazon will sell 12 million Kindle Fire tablets in 2012, which works out to 15% of the tablet market. Mahaney forecasts that 20 million units will be sold in 2013, and the price will get knocked down to $179, but we’ll see if that pans out. Of course, Amazon is taking a loss on each tablet, but they’re banking on the fact that owners will buy enough stuff through the tablet for them to make a profit.
For those unfamiliar, the Kindle Fire is Amazon’s new Android tablet which packs some pretty decent specs that belie its $200 pricetag. It has a 7-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen, a dual-core 1 GHz processor, but there are no cameras, GPS, or Bluetooth. Our review was generally positive, which you can check out here.
If the Kindle Fire has done anything, it’s been to stand as a clear counterpoint to the iPad, if only by way of pricing. Like Apple, Amazon has created an end-to-end experience, from device to service, and with these analysts vouching for the Kindle Fire’s success, it’s a scheme that might just work.
How many of you intend on getting a Kindle Fire before the end of the year? How many of you figure you’ll end up getting one next year?
[via AllThingsD, BusinessInsider]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
