When it comes to tablets, it has so far been a one-tablet show. Apple’s (s AAPL) iPad has been and continues to be the dominant player. Amazon’s (s AMZN) Kindle Fire is being considered a legitimate contender and if Amazon’s spin is to be believed, the company is experiencing better than expected demand. There have been rumors of higher production numbers. There is incredible buzz for the product. But as they say, products are not sold in factories but in stores.
With a massive online presence, Amazon doesn’t have to worry about selling Kindles on the Internet. However, it is making sure that it gets the Kindles in as many brick-and-mortar stores as possible. The company says that all four Kindles are going to be sold in 16,000 brick and mortar retail stores across the US including those owned by Walmart (s wmt) , Target (s tgt), Sam’s Club, Office Depot (s odp), Best Buy (s bby), Staples (s spls) and RadioShack (s rsh). “We believe the additional sales channel is an incremental positive,” notes Brian Pitz, analyst with UBS Research in a note to his clients this morning.
You can say that again. I think this is a net negative for most other tablet makers, since Amazon is essentially flooding the market. This holiday season, Kindles and Kindle Fires are going to be ubiquitous and that is going to make a crucial difference between Kindle Fire and almost any other tablet that is not made by Apple. Barnes & Noble (s bks) is also planning to retail its new Nook Tablet at Best Buy, Target, Walmart, RadioShack, OfficeMax, Staples in addition to sales at its Barnes & Noble stores. Tablet competitors are going to need wide brick-and-mortar distribution to compete this holiday season.
Amazon’s new Kindle lineup includes Kindle ($79), Kindle Touch ($99), Kindle 3G ($149), and the color Kindle Fire ($199). UBS Research estimates that during the holiday quarter Amazon will sell 8.5 million Kindles, including 5 million Kindle Fires. For 2012, they expect Amazon to sell 22 million Kindle devices. And a ChangeWave survey of early adopters found that 5 percent have pre-ordered or are very likely to buy a Kindle Fire.
Yup. My wife refers to Best Buy as the Amazon storefront. We go there to smell and touch the new goodies. Buy at Amazon.
It’s a smart move by Amazon, but what remains to be seen is whether they have allocated the human resources needed to actually TRAIN these sales channels, or whether it will mostly be a see-touch-feel confirmation point for the already committed.
I am pretty bullish on Amazon’s prospects with Kindle Fire, but I am guessing that, at least for the upcoming holiday season, it will be the latter case (see-touch-feel).
My bf got me a Kindle Fire for my birthday and I love it. It’s lightweight and easy to use straight out of the box. The first thing I recommend anyone with a new Kindle do is install the nook app. We got our instructions from http://www.kindlemad.com through google.
It basically unlocks all the Android marketplace apps and unlocks the device. Super happy!
Products aren’t sold in factories but in stores #Amazon+#Kindle count on brick-and-mortar stores. Makes me hopeful! http://t.co/4baaZNlY,