Amazon Kindle Fire Release Date: Order Numbers Increased to 5 Million for US
Following strong pre-order demand for the Kindle Fire, Amazon increased its order numbers for the device in the United States.
The company contacted its manufacturing partners and it made 5 million units of the device available for order. Several retail shops will now have a larger stock of the Kindle Fire.
On its first day of pre-order availability, approximately 100,000 copies of the Kindle Fire were counted.
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According to sources for technology website DigiTimes, Amazon already increased its orders last quarter from 3.5 million to 4 million units.
The desire for the Kindle Fire tablet is said to be at an all-time high. Market research firm ChangeWave recently conducted a survey of 2,600 consumers. This survey was conducted to gauge the overall interest for Amazon's tablet.
"According to ChangeWave’s survey, 5 percent of respondents already pre-ordered Amazon’s Kindle Fire, or they are very likely to buy the tablet following its launch next week,” wrote BGR.com.
"Another 12 percent of respondents say they are somewhat likely to purchase the device. A similar survey conducted in 2010 ahead of the iPad’s launch found that 4 percent of respondents were very likely to buy the tablet and 9% were somewhat likely,” BGR.com added.
Royal Bank of America analyst Mike Abramsky reported on those who would rather buy the Kindle Fire over the iPad 2: "Tablet contenders (Xoom, Galaxy Tab, PlayBook, etc) have failed to gain appreciable traction against iPad’s established 67 percent share, and iPad 2 should be a popular holiday purchase."
"However, strong early Fire uptake seems likely, raising speculation Apple now faces a real tablet contender. Survey data says 26 percent of likely Fire buyers (i.e. of the 5 percent) say they will delay/put on hold iPad buying. Sustained Fire uptake and ‘buzz’ will depend on consumer/reviewer reactions to Fire’s user experience," Abramsky added.
Several analysts in the industry said Amazon could sell 5 million Kindle Fire tablets in the holiday quarter for 2011.
The online retailer's upcoming tablet will feature a 7-inch Multi-touch 1024 x600 display with 169 ppi, the Amazon Silk web browser, up to 8 hours of battery life and a deep integration with numerous Amazon services. Users will be able to stream books, movies and music from Amazon's services.
The Kindle Fire computer tablet will officially release in stores Nov. 15. The tablet will retail at $199.
