Amazon Kindle Fire Has Dulled eReader Market In Q1 2012
The popularity of the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet hasn’t done any favors for the eReader industry, according to a recent report eReader shipments fell drastically in the first quarter of 2012 on the heels of Kindle Fires success.
According to IHS iSupply the new Kindle Fire has allowed Amazon to secure 14% of the global tablet market.
The Kindle Fire has managed to remain Amazon’s best selling device for 16-weeks in a row however Amazon has been selling the $199 tablet as a loss-leader which led the company’s profits to be cut in half over the last 6 months.
DigiTimes Research is now predicting that eReader shipments will continue to take a huge hit throughout the current quarter.
While a season decline from the holiday quarter through Q1 of the new year is expected it’s believed that the eReader industry is taking a harder than normal hit because Amazon has changed its focus.
DigiTimes believes the global eReader market will see shipments drop from 9 million units in the December quarter to barely 2 million units in the current quarter.
While the decline isn’t good for companies that focus on traditional eReaders the research company still expected solid eReader shipment growth in the coming years. Sales are expected to jump from 22.82 million units in 2011 to more than 60 million units by 2015.
Do you think the standard eReader market will continue to grow at a decent rate or will Android and iOS powered devices continued to chip away at that market with the help of declining tablet prices and new more interesting tablet technologies?
