Amazon Kindle Fire registers strong Black Friday sales, 8 week on top of Amazon's charts
The Amazon Kindle Fire might not be a direct iPad competitor, but it’s shaping up to be the second most successful tablet on the market. Amazon has issued a rosy press release confirming the huge demand for the Kindle Fire, which has stayed on top of Amazon.com’s best selling devices for 8 weeks in a row.
The $199 7-inch tablet offers a heavily skinned version of Android and serves more as a gateway to Amazon’s massive ecosystem of content rather than offering the full-fledged Android experience. To confirm that, estimates have revealed that Amazon might be selling the Fire at a loss, hoping to reap the benefits of having more customers in its ecosystem. Along with the lack of Android Market, the tablet doesn’t offer Google’s suite of applications, but that didn't stop sales:
"Even before the busy holiday shopping weekend, we'd already sold millions of the new Kindle family and Kindle Fire was the bestselling product across all of Amazon.com. Black Friday was the best ever for the Kindle family - customers purchased 4X as many Kindle devices as they did last Black Friday - and last year was a great year," Dave Limp, VP of Amazon Kindle said.
Limp also added that many customers bought multiple Kindles - possible one for themselves and another one as a gift for their loved ones. The company also partnered with Target for its Black Friday sales, and the retailer reported that the Kindle Fire was the best selling tablet that day. Not a bad start for the 7-inch tablet is it? Amazon also added that it expects the demand to remain strong on Cyber Monday and later on.
(NASDAQ: AMZN) Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that this Black Friday was the best ever for the Kindle family and the popular Kindle Fire remained the bestselling product across all of Amazon since its introduction 8 weeks ago. The bestselling Kindle family - the $79 Kindle, $99 Kindle Touch, $149 Kindle Touch 3G and the $199 Kindle Fire - are available now atwww.amazon.com/kindle and at over 16,000 retail locations throughout the United States.
"Even before the busy holiday shopping weekend, we'd already sold millions of the new Kindle family and Kindle Fire was the bestselling product across all of Amazon.com. Black Friday was the best ever for the Kindle family - customers purchased 4X as many Kindle devices as they did last Black Friday - and last year was a great year," said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "In addition, we're seeing a lot of customers buying multiple Kindles - one for themselves and others as gifts - we expect this trend to continue on Cyber Monday and through the holiday shopping season."
"This was a great Black Friday for Target and for Kindle Fire, which was the bestselling tablet in our stores on Black Friday," said Nik Nayar, vice president merchandising, Target. "We're excited so many guests chose Target as their destination for the new family of Kindle devices and we're sure Kindle Fire will continue to be at the top of wish lists this holiday season."
"We knew Kindle Fire and the new E Ink Kindles would be highly desirable gifts this holiday season," said Wendy Fritz, senior vice president of Computing, Tablets and e-Readers at Best Buy. "If this Black Friday was any indication, they are only getting hotter as we get into the shopping season."
Kindle Fire is the bestselling item on Amazon.com and offers more than 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games - such as Netflix, Hulu, Pandora and Angry Birds - as well as free storage of Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync for books and movies, a 14.6 ounce design that's easy to hold with one hand, a vibrant, color touch screen, a powerful dual-core processor and Amazon Silk - Amazon's new revolutionary web browser that accelerates the power of the mobile device by using the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services cloud - all for only $199.
The $79 latest generation Kindle is for readers around the world who want the lightest, most compact Kindle at an incredible price. Kindle is now small and light enough - at less than 6 ounces - to fit easily in your pocket and carry with you everywhere, yet it still features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper, even in bright sunlight.
Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G feature an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes - still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G are also lighter, smaller, offer audio capabilities, such as text-to-speech and deep integration for audiobooks, extra-long battery life and hold thousands of books. Kindle Touch 3G offers the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle's free 3G connection means you never have to hunt for or pay for a Wi-Fi hotspot - you simply download and read books anytime, anywhere in over 100 countries around the world. Amazon pays for the 3G connection so there's no monthly fee or annual contract. Both Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G include X-ray - a new feature invented by Amazon that lets customers explore the "bones of the book."
With an Amazon Prime membership, all of the new Kindles offer access to the new Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free - including over 100 current and former New York TimesBestsellers - as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. No other e-reader or e-bookstore offers such a service.
Customers can order the new Kindle family today: the $79 Kindle at www.amazon.com/kindle, Kindle Touch for $99 atwww.amazon.com/kindletouch, Kindle Touch 3G for $149 at www.amazon.com/kindletouch3G and Kindle Fire for $199 at www.amazon.com/kindlefire.
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