Amazon Kindle Fire Tipped As iPad Scorcher

Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet is set to launch on 15 November, and evidence is rolling in that the seven-inch custom Android slate could give Apple’s iPad some competition at the lower end of tablet sales.

Some five percent of 2,600 people polled by ChangeWave Research and RBC Capital Markets said they had either pre-ordered or were “very likely” to buy the Kindle Fire, compared with four percent who said that they were very likely to buy the seminal iPad in 2010.

Twelve percent of respondents said they were “somewhat likely” to buy the Fire, besting the nine percent who said the same thing about the first iPad, according to the survey, as cited by the AllThingDigital blog.

Catching fire

Getting more granular, some 26 percent of that five percent who said they had pre-ordered or would very likely buy the Fire said they would delay acquiring an iPad to buy the Fire. That is both good and bad for Amazon and the Android tablet market on the whole.

It is good because it means people are interested in buying the Fire, but it is also bad because it indicates that the Fire is not necessarily the be-all, end-all tablet for consumers that the iPad has become en route to selling over 32 million units.

What it may point to is consumer perception that the Fire is a supplementary media tablet, perhaps underscored by the device’s $199 (£125) price tag relative to the more premium-priced iPad, which starts at $500 (£314). Consumers with the means may purchase both the Fire and the iPad. Even so, RBC Capital Markets’ Mike Abramsky sees potential in the Fire.

“Tablet contenders (Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab, RIM BlackBerry PlayBook) have failed to gain appreciable traction against iPad’s estimated 67 percent share, and iPad 2 should be a popular holiday purchase,” he wrote in a research note. “However, strong early Fire uptake seems likely, raising speculation Apple now faces a real tablet contender.”

Amazon also made a point of showcasing applications that will be available on the Kindle Fire at launch. They include Facebook, Pandora for music, games from Electronic Arts, Zynga and Rovio, and even Netflix. Yes, the Amazon Instant Video rival will be available on the Kindle Fire to provide consumers more TV and movie choices.

“We’re excited to team up with Amazon to give what we think will be a huge community of Kindle Fire owners the opportunity to experience all that Netflix has to offer,” said Bill Holmes, vice president of business development at Netflix. “We’re certain that our members will have a great viewing experience on Kindle Fire.”

And eWEEK is fairly certain that the pent-up demand and hype surrounding the machine will lead to Amazon selling anywhere from three million to five million Kindle Fire tablets before 1 January – or in just a six-week span.