

Apple IPad Increases Tablet Share as Amazon Shipments Slump - rmah
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-03/apple-increases-tablet-market-share-as-android-shipments-slump

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pooriaazimi
A strange thing just popped into my mind: about 8 months ago when MG Siegler
first posted [1] about Amazon having a Kindle tablet in production, he said
they were going for a cheap, low-spec'd, 7 inch tablet for Q4 2011 (just to
get their hands _wet_ and evaluate the market) and the _real_ Kindle tablet (a
10" beast with cameras, retina display and powerful CPU/GPU) would arrive Q1
2012 to compete directly with iPad.  It's May already and there's not even a
single rumor of such a tablet (at least nothing that I've heard of), and it
seems like everyone's forgotten about it. 

Now, I have an iPad (2) and wouldn't use a 10" Kindle Fire even if you gave it
to me free of charge, but I was really looking forward to a decent, reasonably
priced alternative to the iPad.  It's a shame that apparently there would be no
such product...

[1]: <http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/02/amazon-kindle-tablet/>

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smackfu
Isn't this mainly because the new iPad came out in the first quarter, whereas
most other electronics are bought for the holidays? 

~~~
rmah
In Q4 2011, there were 28.2 million tablets sold vs 17.4 mil in Q1 2012.  So a
sequential decline of 38%. 

While holiday sales are obviously significant, what this _might_ indicate is
that more people will purchase for themselves but are more willing to purchase
alternatives (like the cheaper Kindle Fire) as gifts for others. 

~~~
bunderbunder
Totally anecdotally, among all the tablet owners I know Fires have been gifts
and other tablets have been self-purchases.  I also know some folks for whom
the gift of a Kindle Fire ended up being the icebreaker that convinced them to
spring for an iPad. 

Assuming those are indicative of real trends, that's got to be very
disconcerting for Amazon.  I doubt that dedicated e-readers are going to drive
ebooks for a whole lot longer.  If they can't bring out a strong contender in
the tablet space, they stand to lose their command of the market. 

------
joezydeco
In another possibly-maybe-not unrelated datapoint, Target is going to stop
carrying the Kindle.  Wonder why...

[http://gizmodo.com/5906934/why-is-target-kicking-amazon-
kind...](http://gizmodo.com/5906934/why-is-target-kicking-amazon-kindles-out-
of-its-stores)

~~~
smackfu
I bet they will still carry the accessories though...

