The Kindle Fire is no iPad killer, but it has shifted the tablet market since its debut on September 28. An Appcelerator report released today shows developer interest in the Kindle Fire is growing because of its potential and low price point. Forty-nine percent of North American developers are interested in creating apps for the Kindle Fire, which is only 4% less than Apple’s iPad. In North America, a survey of 15 Android tablets showed the Kindle Fire edging out Samsung Galaxy Tab. In terms of the consumer mindshare, data from Social Nuggets shows that intent to purchase the Kindle Fire has been slightly higher post-launch than for iPads.
The majority of the Kindle Fire’s gain has come with a hit to Android and other tablets (BlackBerry Playbook, HP WebOS, Windows Tablet and unidentified tablets.) In 200,000 discussions on social media sites from September 28-November 7, a total 1% of people have expressed an intent to purchase some type of tablet. Amazon’s Kindle Fire is in the lead, followed by iPad (iPad2 and iPad3). Android tablets Samsung Galaxy Tabs and Asus Eee Pad Transformer were mentioned, but intent to purchase was quite small.
SocialNuggets claims that it didn’t see this sort of enthusiasm when the iPad 2 was released.
Steve Jobs and the iPad defined the era of Post-PC, and the Kindle Fire fits into that realm by innovating in the tablet space. The Kindle Fire is poised as the ultimate media consumption, not production, platform. It does not have a camera, 3G or Bluetooth, and judging from the reviews, it’s a lot like the BlackBerry Playbook. For $200, it’s useful for browsing the web, listening to music, watching movies, and reading magazines, newspapers and comics.
The most likely outcome of all this? The Amazon Kindle Fire will snatch up market share from Android and other, non-iPad tablets.
Did you receive your pre-ordered Kindle Fire? Give us your mini-review of it in the comments.
