Ipad or Kindler Fire?
As thoroughly presented in All Things Digital early users seem to want the hottest android-based tablet of Amazon more than Apple’s bestselling iPad.
iPad Buyers May Delay Orders Because of Amazon’s Newest Kindle Tablet
With a week to go before its Nov. 16 launch, Amazon’s forthcoming Kindle Fire is driving a lot of preorder demand — more than even Apple’s iPad.
A new survey conducted by ChangeWave and RBC Capital Markets found that five percent of 2,600 respondents had either already preordered or were “very likely” to buy the Fire, exceeding the four percent who said in 2010 that they were very likely to buy the iPad. Another 12 percent said they were “somewhat likely” to purchase the Fire, again surpassing the nine percent who said the same thing of the original iPad prior to its launch.
And of the five percent of “very likely” buyers, 26 percent said they would delay their iPad purchase to buy the Fire.
If those metrics are surprising, they really shouldn’t be. The Fire’s low price, relative to the iPad, is obviously a major attraction — $199 to the iPad’s $499. And — thanks to the iPad — consumers are now familiar enough with the tablet category to be comfortable dropping $199 on the Fire.
That said, the pent-up Kindle Fire demand on display in this survey suggests that Apple may finally have a true tablet rival with which to battle, as RBC analyst Mike Abramsky observes:
“Tablet contenders (Xoom, Galaxy Tab, PlayBook, etc.) have failed to gain appreciable traction against iPad’s estimated 67 percent share, and iPad 2 should be a popular holiday purchase,” he writes. “However, strong early Fire uptake seems likely, raising speculation Apple now faces a real tablet contender.”
Indeed, iPad buyers may delay orders because of Amazon’s newest Kindle tablet. Nevertheless, while these findings might imply a significant bite in Apple’s stable share in the PC tablet market, it appears that Apple stays unfazed by the Fire’s arrival. Apple believes that the entry of another tablet that is highly customized and readily integrated into Amazon’s services will most likely break the platform up even more, and this would work to Apple’s advantage by attracting more users to the reliability of its iOS ecosystem.
