Kindle Fire

When is weak demand for your product good? When you’re Amazon

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Bartley now models Amazon selling just 6 million units this quarter of the Fire, down from 8 million previously, and 10.5 million for all of 2013, down from 12.5 million previously. While his investigation of the supply chain last month suggest component orders had risen for both October and November by double digits, he now thinks total Q4 component orders fell by more than 20%.

And

Writes Bartley, “Although weak Kindle Fire de- mand is potentially positive for profitability, it does imply that Amazon is still struggling to compete against Apple (AAPL), and may even be seeing competition from Google.

Amazon is selling its products at cost or even below cost. The more products they sell, the more money they lose. I’ve said it before — I don’t believe this is a sustainable or a wise strategy.

You have got to be fucking kidding me

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Tired of the bold, yet unsubstantiated claims of financial analysts, the L.A. Times turns to a bastion of data analysis for its latest story… CouponCodes4u.com.

On Thursday, the folks behind CouponCodes4u.com made a bold prediction: They say the Kindle Fire HD will outsell the iPad mini by 2 to 1.

To back up that claim, the coupon clearing house website cited data collected from its website that shows nearly twice as many searches for the words “Kindle Fire HD” compared with “iPad mini” in the last three weeks.

Pathetic.

Here’s an analogy I posted on Twitter:

Equivalent of @latimes iPad mini/Kindle story is asking Ferrari club how many will buy a Corolla, then concluding Ferrari will outsell them.

Amazon bullshit

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Today, Amazon announced that Kindle Fire is sold out, and that in just nine months, Kindle Fire has captured 22% of tablet sales in the U.S.

The mainstream press is jumping all over this pile of shit like it’s real news.

First, if a company announces that it sold out of one of its best selling products, it stopped production. Which means Amazon issued a press release saying it stopped production of the Kindle Fire. OF COURSE YOU’RE GOING TO SELL OUT!

Second, how can Amazon claim it has 22 percent market share when it has yet to share any sales numbers. Amazon will not say how many Kindle Fire tablets it actually sold.

One announcement away from destroying the Nexus

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Abdel Ibrahim:

But unfortunately for Amazon and Google, as good as their impending tablets are shaping up to be, Apple’s got something up its sleeve, too.

I agree with Abdel on Google, but not as much with Amazon. When Apple releases its smaller iPad, all tablet manufacturers are going to feel the heat — there is no doubt in my mind about that. However, I believe people purchase the Amazon products for a different reason. They buy into the Kindle brand as opposed to just purchasing a tablet. While some people may choose to buy the smaller iPad, many will continue to buy the Kindle because it does the one thing they really want from it — read books.

Kindle sales: The devil is in the details

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Marco Arment:

In fact, all Amazon has said is:
  • They’ve sold at least 4 million Kindles, total, this month.
  • The Kindle Fire is the top-selling model.
But the Kindle has between 5 and 10 models, depending on how Amazon counts them.

The devil is in the details.

More Kindle Fire bashing

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USA Today:

These early adopters are running into an experience that is often clunky, a touchscreen that isn’t super responsive, a Web browser that struggles on many websites and head-scratching hardware omissions. (There are no volume buttons.)

Kindle Fire is the new Edsel

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David Streitfeld for the New York Times:

A few of their many complaints: there is no external volume control. The off switch is easy to hit by accident. Web pages take a long time to load. There is no privacy on the device; a spouse or child who picks it up will instantly know everything you have been doing. The touch screen is frequently hesitant and sometimes downright balky.

I haven’t seen a completely positive review of the Kindle Fire yet. Most people are having problems with it and Amazon needs to get that fixed. The company says they have an update coming and many expect a new device next year, but I don’t know if that will be enough.

The tablet market has mercilessly chewed up everything except the iPad.

Kids charging up a storm on Kindle Fire

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Reuters: What happens is that when you order a Kindle Fire […] it comes with your Amazon account information preloaded, along with “1-Click” ordering. That means anyone who is holding that device can place an order, whether it’s their account … Continued

Usability expert hates the Kindle Fire

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Part of making a successful product is making it usable for your target audience. That, apparently, is something that Amazon completely missed with its new Kindle Fire. “Amazon.com’s new Kindle Fire offers a disappointingly poor user experience,” said usability expert … Continued

∞ Kindle Fire 'fails at almost everything'

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Peter Ha at The Daily: Like most convergence devices before it, the Kindle Fire doesn’t do anything exceptionally well (except for buying things via Amazon) but the price is right at $200. Buyer beware. Perhaps the rumors of this model … Continued

∞ Amazon Kindle Fire screenshots

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At the top you’ll notice categories for Newsstand, Books, Music, Video, Docs, Apps, and the Web browser. With the exception of Docs and the Browser, each of those menus also include direct links into Amazon’s digital store for that content.

∞ Apple is not worried about the Kindle Fire

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BGR:

Following a meeting with the pair of Apple chief officers, Reitzes delivered a note to investors suggesting that the company sees Amazon’s forthcoming tablet as good news for the iPad. The Kindle Fire’s low price point makes it accessible, but Apple believes it further fragments the Android ecosystem, which may cause consumers to flee to the iPad.

This is just what I said back in September. Kindle Fire will be successful, but it’s not an iPad killer.

∞ This is just all kinds of stupid

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Molly Wood for CNET: Amazon, not Apple, just mainstreamed the tablet market. And I’d argue that it’s an iPad killer all the same. Remember how I said earlier today that product launches drive some writers to the brink of stupidity. … Continued