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Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King
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Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave

By | November 21, 2011, 6:07am PST

Summary: Amazon’s Kindle Fire is disrupting the tablet market, according to a ChangeWave survey. The ROI case is simple: Parents want a tablet that’s inexpensive and can play app for the kids.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is poised to be the No. 2 tablet for holiday shoppers with 22 percent of consumers saying they plan to buy the $199 device. Apple’s iPad still retains the No. 1 spot, according to ChangeWave Research.

Changewave, a division of the 451 group, said 65 percent of consumers plan on buying Apple’s iPad, but now there’s a solid No. 2. In a statement, ChangeWave made the following points based on its survey of 3,043 North American consumers:

  • Amazon is going to wreak havoc on other tablet makers such as Motorola, RIM, Dell, HP and Toshiba. These vendors didn’t garner hardly any attention from consumers.
  • The Samsung Galaxy Tab was cited by 4 percent of consumers.
  • 5 percent of consumers said they’re very likely to buy the Kindle Fire. Another 12 percent say they’re somewhat likely.
  • Apple should be fine—74 percent of iPad owners say they are very satisfied with the device.


ChangeWave’s findings back up the anecdotal interest I’m seeing. When the Kindle Fire comes up in conversation, nearly everyone in my neighborhood has wanted to try it out. The ROI case is simple: These parents want a tablet that’s inexpensive and can play app for the kids. And if you have two kids, you can buy two Fires for the cost of one iPad and save yourself some refereeing. Another perk: You really don’t want junior dropping your iPad in the toilet do you?

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Topics

Consumer, Apple iPad, Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Amazon Kindle, Amazon Kindle Fire, ChangeWave Research, ROI Case, Tablets, Notebooks, Roi/Tco, E-books & E-Readers, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Finance, Managerial Accounting, Personal Technology, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Disclosure

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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WHY Buy a Worm-y Apple?
MadYank 28th Nov
Apple makes MANY excellent items; iPad, iPhone, iPod, etc. They once-upon-a-time made iMac, which ALMOST conquered the world (oops). They CREATED the Educational Personal Computer market (sorry, Tandy/Altair/Heathkit - oops again)(and I HAD 2 Heathkits!).
BUT - and this is a very BIG But! - Apple has made one HUGE mistake, all along the way, that will eventually destroy them.
CLOSED ARCHITECTURE.
As long as Apple insists upon a closed architecture, where ONLY their hardware, only THEIR OS, only THEIR licensed software will run on their systems, they will NEVER conquer Wintel. Even the Linux/Unix hybrid is struggling - and THAT has a FAR BETTER CHANCE to knock M$ off the top of the heap.
Amazon isn't even TRYING to kick Apple off the top; they've established a niche market for an eBook reader, and have expanded it to include other eReader functions for MEDIA applications - Audio (including music and audiobooks), video (both streaming 'cloud-feed' and downloaded files), and finally, with color, decent PDF reading (do you KNOW what it's like to try to decipher a D20 game manual when ALL the pages are in monochrome? Yeuch!) on a 7" display. Personally, I'm planning to wait for the 11" Fire, but still, even the smaller one looks good; I'm just greedy.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
Heenan73 21st Nov
What people plan to do and what they do are often two different things. What people say they plan to do and what they actually do are continents apart. My guess is as good as changewave (who they? how did they select their small sample?).

I don't even like 'shipping' stats. I prefer to deal with good honest sales figures - but i wish they were a bit more honest with them, too! wink
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
ZombieSteveJobs 21st Nov
Garbage. Buy iPad 2...if you have brainsssss
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... and lotsa lotsa dead prezidentssssss
daboochmeister 21st Nov
.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
necessaryevil 22nd Nov
@daboochmeister
+1
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
Bookmark71 21st Nov
I bought one then returned it 3 days later. The power button is in the middle of the bottom. Every time I rested it on my chest while reading at night it went to sleep. While holding, it's a bit heavy so my fingers underneath for support would turn it off. In landscape to watch movies, my right hand would hit the off button and my left would cover the speakers. I liked the interface though. Hope they release the next version soon with these two issues resolved.
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Crampy screen, creaky plastic, gitchy, hick-up prone user experience
dderss 21st Nov
@Bookmark71: the price is the only excuse.

There are other 7" tablets which are done better.
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But none are as good as the iPad
toddybottom 21st Nov
@dderss
Only the iPad is made of something better than creaky plastic with glue between the screen layers and many times better vector scalability graphics and floating point units that number in the millions.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
anono 22nd Nov
@toddybottom
Unless, you've seen every tablet that has ever been produced in any part of the world, it's theoretically impossible for you to know that "only" the iPad is ........
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
chinese.bookie 21st Nov
@Bookmark71 I own one, have used it all weekend, and I love it. Price and features are a great combination. With 2 phones, 2 laptops, a desktop and a few terabytes in NAS, I don't need more.

And who gives a sh*t about floating point units that number in the millions? Whatever that is....I'm assuming tubbybottom means a floating point unit that can compute millions of FLOPS.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
Bookmark71 21st Nov
@chinese.bookie Someone suggested to me to read with it upside down so the power button is on the top. That certainly fixes one issue I had. The landscape mode though has my hand covering the speakers on one side or the other. I also bump the power switch sometimes mid-video. I suppose if headphones were plugged in the connector would somewhat protect the button but I don't always use them. The last issue I had was my thumbs can't grip it well without triggering page turns. For me, the rim needs to be a bit wider.

I do agree though, it's very cool. It just has a few quirks that made me decide to wait and see what the next version does.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
necessaryevil 22nd Nov
@chinese.bookie
Agreed. It is a solid device, no creaks or flex in mine whatsoever. I have never bumped the power button. On mine it takes specific effort to press it. It isn't perfect but I don't expect perfection in a 1st gen device or from anything humans make. The iPad isn't perfect either (yes I have one). None of my devices have ever been perfect. And they never will be.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
dave95. 21st Nov
As expected. But it will not disrupt Apple's iPad momentum, just the other guys who were struggling to gain traction against the iPad. What's even more troubling to see is Samsung's Tab which only garnered 4 percent attention. Samsung is easily the most aggressive alternative tablet manufacturer, globally. Amazon is US only.
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Crow magnum
Robert Hahn 21st Nov
If the Kindle Fire doesn't unhorse the iPad, but instead just kills The Other Guys while garnering 12-odd per cent share, there will be a lot of crow to eat.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
T-Wrench 22nd Nov
@Robert Hahn Yup, Toddybottom-fauty will be right on top!!
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
GAstorino@... 21st Nov
When Apple comes out with their Ipad 7" mini then the others are DOA. With the mini you get all the apps such as Netflix, Hulu, music, video, etc. Plus you can put on Nook and Kindle readers as well so why would you need the others when you can have all three major readers, pdf readers, etc. on one small unit.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
Tech-1138 21st Nov
@GAstorino@...

You mean like all the stuff already running on the Nook Color CM7 for the last year?

was $249 from B&N. now $199, or $139 or less for a refurb
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Re: "When Apple comes out with their Ipad 7" mini then the others are DOA."
ldo17 21st Nov
@GAstorino@... HAHAHAHAHAHA!! But didn't Steve Jobs say that tablets smaller than 10" were a complete waste of time? Do you mean to say he was WRONG!? But how can that be?
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
admiraljkb 21st Nov
@ldo17
In fairness, Steve was quite ill at the time and wasn't quite all there for the last few years. That culminated in the 4S disappointment. Course he also said that 4"+ was too big, but there are pictures of him unable to read the screen - those over 40 will know what I'm talking about. (the most embarrassing picture is Jobs with Medvedev in Russia seemingly unable to read the screen up close and putting it all the way at the end of his arm in order to read it)
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I have Kindle on three tablets
rmacleod@... 21st Nov
None works!
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
ghrdstger 21st Nov
http://4zi.net/ez
http://4zi.net/ez
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Satisfied with iPad could change ...
daboochmeister 21st Nov
... after they use a neighbor's Kindle Fire for a bit, and realize they paid $300+ more. Or more likely, they'd still say they're satisfied with the iPad ... but when it comes time for another purchase, not necessarily pay that much again. Buyer's and survey-taker's psychology being what it is
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
admiraljkb Updated - 21st Nov
@daboochmeister

I agree, particularly in this economy. I suspect a lot of the current iPad households with kiddos will get a Fire or two for the kids to keep them off the more expensive iPad. I've got the Fire myself, and am quite happy with it (at $200). The device itself is "good enough" and should get a little better with firmware updates, it is a better size and weight for general usage, and the $200 price tag itself is a major feature. HP's semi-defunct Touchpad FLEW at $99, and Fire is flying at $200, so I'd suspect that long term, $300 is now the upper limit for *consumer* tablet pricing to widely sell. I don't know what this will do for corporate tablets which are semi-proprietary like Avaya's and Cisco's.
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65% ?
chinese.bookie 21st Nov
>Changewave, a division of the 451 group, said 65 percent of consumers plan on buying
>Apple???s iPad, but now there???s a solid No. 2

Are we supposed to believe tht 65% of all holiday consumers are going to buy an iPad? I don't think so.

Bad reporting.
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Highly flawed Survey
gnorthern 21st Nov
I was part of the Changewave survey. It was done before the Nook tablet was released.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
joneswayne@... 22nd Nov
I bought a Kindle Fire because I saw one on the shelf and just thought my 10 year old might like it for Christmas. Hey, $199 makes it a little easier to purchase than the IPAD2 that we already have. It's even cheaper than the IPOD Touch we bought 3 years ago. Well, she found it before I got it wrapped and I decided to go ahead and let her play with it. She has not put it down. She absolutely loves it. The best part is that she is coming to me to buy books now instead of inane time wasting apps. Anyone who has children this age can tell you how important it is to get children interested in reading. I love it! Now my 7 year old is begging for one. She and her sister love to read to each other on the fire. Amazon has a winner. That is not to say anything negative about any other tablet on the market, just that this the Kindle Fire at this price point will be a success no matter what little complaint you may read.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
Buzzbum 22nd Nov
Oh wow, all those parents will be sorely disappointed when they realize how few parental and purchase controls are there on the Fire. The Fire isn't family friendly at all -- everyone else, from the Nook Tablet to the iPad, have password protection for purchases and the ability for parents to disable features. With the Fire you don't get any of that. You'll have to wait for Amazon to get around to adding it in a software update -- if that happens at all.
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This report is flawed
nookvine 22nd Nov
There was NO mention of Nook Color or Nook Tablet's position in this report, despite the fact it was the #2 tablet in sales in the past 12 months. It seems the press has forgotten the Nook Color was the first success in the sub $250 tablet market.
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If the Fire was more functional, it would be a worthy buy
shawkins 23rd Nov
Yes, the Fire is inexpensive.... but there is a reason for that. If you want a tablet computer that functions as a computer, the Fire ain't it. It's a consumption device for Amazon products and not much more unless you count the ability to check email as being a "real" computer.
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
stevehab 23rd Nov
I like my nook Color. And the nook Tablet is much faster and better for video. Amazon is great, but just have not been wild about the Kindle.
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Can't those kiddies buy stuff a little too easily?
bvlenci 23rd Nov
I ask this, because my granddaughter, at age 5, figured out how to buy a bunch of nice books on her Mom's old Kindle. I'd hesitate to give a kid a Kindle Fire, with so much more to buy, unless there were some way to make sure the buyer had a credit card.

On the older Kindles, buying is all too easy. I've often accidentally bought a book by hitting "select" instead of "cursor down"; they're actually on the same button, and when you're on a book description page, the focus is automatically on "BUY".

I have a Kindle 2, and that also has a problem with "no place to hold it that doesn't turn a page or do something else you don't want to do".
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RE: Amazon Kindle Fire poised to be No. 2 in tablets, says ChangeWave
nofixed@... 24th Nov
Pardon my ignorance, but what does "can play app for the kids" mean?
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WHY Buy a Worm-y Apple?
MadYank 28th Nov
Apple makes MANY excellent items; iPad, iPhone, iPod, etc. They once-upon-a-time made iMac, which ALMOST conquered the world (oops). They CREATED the Educational Personal Computer market (sorry, Tandy/Altair/Heathkit - oops again)(and I HAD 2 Heathkits!).
BUT - and this is a very BIG But! - Apple has made one HUGE mistake, all along the way, that will eventually destroy them.
CLOSED ARCHITECTURE.
As long as Apple insists upon a closed architecture, where ONLY their hardware, only THEIR OS, only THEIR licensed software will run on their systems, they will NEVER conquer Wintel. Even the Linux/Unix hybrid is struggling - and THAT has a FAR BETTER CHANCE to knock M$ off the top of the heap.
Amazon isn't even TRYING to kick Apple off the top; they've established a niche market for an eBook reader, and have expanded it to include other eReader functions for MEDIA applications - Audio (including music and audiobooks), video (both streaming 'cloud-feed' and downloaded files), and finally, with color, decent PDF reading (do you KNOW what it's like to try to decipher a D20 game manual when ALL the pages are in monochrome? Yeuch!) on a 7" display. Personally, I'm planning to wait for the 11" Fire, but still, even the smaller one looks good; I'm just greedy.

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