The technology research firm NewZoo has reported that their recent studies indicate there are more than 17.4 million active owners of the Amazon Kindle Fire 7 inch color touch screen tablet in America alone. As you may know, Amazon is very tight-lipped concerning sales numbers and almost never releases precise sales data, so we have to turn to independent analysts for help in this area. And while that number is quite impressive and has helped Android in their push to take over Apple as the predominant tablet operating system, an event that looks like it will take place in the coming months, the NewZoo research that is really compelling regards gaming use by Kindle Fire owners.
Buy the Kindle Fire for $199.
According to their data, NewZoo says that a full 81% of all Kindle Fire owners play games on their tablet. To put that number in perspective, the same study also covered Apple iPad owners, and found that only 77% of iPad users are also mobile gamers. And while the 17.4 million Kindle Fire devices owned in the US is nowhere near the 30.4 million iPad users in the States, the Kindle Fire has been available for only a little more than five months, while the iPad has been out for two years.
Arriving on the scene in mid-November of last year, the Amazon Kindle Fire 7 inch color touch screen tablet single-handedly changed the marketing strategy employed by any major tablet manufacturer. By releasing with a retail sales price several hundred dollars less than the average tablet at the time, and delivering a device with smaller screen size, no microSD slot and no cameras, Jeff Bezos and Amazon were making a huge gamble. That gamble paid off, as the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet instantly laid claim to the number two sales spot among all Tablet PCs, something that veteran consumer-electronics manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola and Toshiba were not able to do with more than a year’s availability in the tablet marketplace.
The $199 retail price of the Kindle Fire continues to be very attractive, and Amazon offsets the lack of a microSD slot by providing limitless and free Cloud Storage for all Amazon content. Amazon also offers 30 days of free streaming video through their Prime Membership to all Kindle Fire buyers. Amazon also has an agreement in place with more than 11,000 libraries around the United States to provide free “check outs” of those libraries’ digital content without Kindle Fire owners having to leave their home. Buy the Kindle Fire for $199.
