according to a statement released by Amazon, the Kindles sales rise 400% compare to last year's black Friday. at the same time, amazon.com was also the most visited retail site, with 50% more traffic than other top retail sites like best buy; target; even apple.com
not only during holiday season but year round, we can see more and more consumer choose to shop online instead of going to the stores. according to internet research marketing company comScore, more than 50 million Americans visited online stores this black Friday. where they spent $ 816 million, an increase of 26% since last year.
the core of Amazon is the online store, and it is also part of what Kindle is. without the Kindle book store, Kindle e-reader wouldn't be any different from the SONY e-book or the NOOK. Kindle fire attracts a different group of consumer, they may not be reading as many books as the original Kindle owner. but they will hopefully shop just as much. As Jon Philips writes at Wired, "Indeed, the Fire is a fiendishly effective shopping portal in the guise of a 7-inch slate."
research also shows that even though Apple device had 80% of the North American tablet market in the second quarter this year, and 65% of the future tablet buyers are still considering I pad as their 1st choice. Kindle Fire DID landed the second place as of Nearly 1 in 4 future tablet buyers prefer Kindle Fire. leaving barely 13% market share for all other tablet devices.
with a retail price of $199 verses iPad's starting price of $499, the two are really targeting a totally different segment of the market. that means, to a large extent, they are clearly NOT competing for the same buyers.
Amazon created the Kindle ecosystem with a vision of the whole company's future. which i agree with what Rebecca J Rosen at the ATLANTIC magazine wrote:
"...the Kindle Fire is our best and latest clue as to what Amazon's vision for what Amazon's vision for that future is: the Internet as a store--- and that store is amazon. As Amazon continues to increase its offerings beyond Amazon.com, expect those offerings(tablets, e-readers, apps) to always in some way have the growth of Amazon.com's sales as a fundamental purpose."
Kindle maybe the number 2 product in the gadget market . but its number one spot as a e-book is unshakable. This Kindle system has a lot of space to grow -----with the enhancement of Amazon cloud and Amazon music, i see a very bright and profitable future.
reference:
www.huffingtonpost.com --- amazon kindle set black Friday sales records
Rebecca J.Rosen -What the Kindle Fire Says about Amazon's vision for the future-- the Atlantic -TECHNOLOGY- NOV 14 2011
