The Impact of Amazon's Kindle Fire on the Tablet Market

by dullhunk

The Impact of Amazon's Kindle Fire on the Tablet Market: tablet pc sale

Apple's iPad was long thought to be an unstoppable force in the tablet market. Despite the release of critically acclaimed tablet computers running on the Android OS such as the Samsung Galaxy and ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, the iPad was still topping the chart of tablet sales figures. Many analysts doubted the ability of an Android tablet to usurp the iPad's place atop the market. Then, in early November, Amazon threw its hat into the ring and released its own tablet: the Kindle Fire. Unlike many of the other Android tablets competing with the iPad, the Kindle Fire is highly affordable while still remaining feature-heavy.

When Best Buy's website reported their tablet sales figures in December, many were surprised to see that number one on the list was not Apple's iPad. The Kindle Fire had become the best-selling computer tablet. Albeit these figures are a bit misleading; the iPad has a number of variants in a diverse number of price ranges. With all of the different iPad sales figures accounted for, the Kindle Fire still takes a backseat to Apple's mega tablet. It's also questionable whether or not the Kindle Fire can remain as closely competitive as it is now. Last year, HP's $ 99 TouchPad dethroned Apple's iPad as tablet king for a short period as well.

Regardless of the questions being directed toward the Kindle Fire, it's refreshing to see a new player in the tablet market in Amazon. Perhaps dedicated iPad users will see that it is in fact possible to release an Android tablet with features on par with the iPad at a fraction of the price. At $ 199, the Kindle Fire is less than half of the price of Apple's cheapest iPad model. And while critics generally agree that the overall performance of the Kindle Fire is a step below the iPad, consumers seem to be willing to trade-off some processing speed for price. Investment analyst Travis McCourt believes the Kindle Fire cost Apple about one million iPad sales this holiday season. Amazon may have opened the doors for Android tablets to gain a bigger hold of the iPad's market.

In all fairness to Apple, there isn't anywhere to go but down when you're at the top of the market. It was inevitable that an Android tablet would eventually become a major competitor to the iPad. It's still years out before the iPad is completely overtaken by an Android tablet. Really, there aren't any guarantees it will ever happen, but the increase in competition can only be good news for tablet consumers. As Apple continues to enhance and polish its iPad product line, Android tablet manufacturers will need to similarly improve their own devices in order to keep up in quality. There are already rumors of Amazon having an updated Kindle Fire in the works with a higher price tag to compete more closely with the more expensive iPad models. The tablet market is becoming a more open race, and consumers should feel excited about what the future will bring.

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