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26% of Amazon Kindle Fire buyers delaying purchase of Apple's iPad

A new survey of customers who plan to buy Amazon's Kindle Fire touchscreen tablet found that 26 percent of those said the product has prompted them to delay or put on hold a purchase of Apple's iPad.

The survey, conducted by ChangeWave and RBC Capital Markets, also indicated that the Kindle Fire has more pent-up demand ahead of its Nov. 16 launch than the iPad 2 had earlier this year. Hype for Amazon's new tablet with a color screen is said to be driven by the device's low $199 starting price, or less than half of the entry-level $499 iPad 2.

The results come from a poll of 2,600 respondents conducted in October, and show that 5 percent of respondents said they have already preordered a Kindle Fire or are "very likely" to purchase soon. Prior to the iPad 2 launch, 4 percent of respondents said they were "very likely" to buy Apple's second-generation tablet.

Analyst Mike Abramsky said the survey suggest that the launch of the Kindle Fire could present a near-term risk for Apple, as more than a quarter of those buying Amazon's tablet indicated they chose it over the iPad. However, Abramsky also remains optimistic on Apple and its iPad lineup going forward, as he believes there is room for both Apple's tablet and Amazon's to grow.

Any sustained uptake for the Kindle Fire will depend on continued "buzz" and positive reactions after the device becomes available next week. But once the hype dies down, Abramsky believes there are enough unique features with Apple's iPad platform that will allow it to retain leadership in the tablet market.

Specifically, the analyst offered a list of four ways in which the iPad differs from the competition: Apple's ecosystem and the large amount of content available on the App Store and in iTunes; the iOS user experience; a larger display, 3G connectivity and cameras make the iPad a true "post-PC" device when compared with the Kindle Fire; and Apple's expansive global distribution places the iPad in 90 countries, versus the Kindle Fire's online-only availability.

Abramsky has maintained an "outperform" rating for AAPL stock with a price target of $500 in the face of any near-term "valuation volatility." He believes that Apple's key franchises in the iPad, iPhone and Mac are "large, defensible and underpenetrated, with significant growth drivers ahead."

Looking forward, he sees Apple selling 50 million iPad units in the company's 2012 fiscal year, representing 54 percent year over year growth. And in the 2013 fiscal year, he sees iPad sales growing another 30 percent to hit 65 million.



72 Comments

markbyrn 15 Years · 662 comments

Wonder how many people cancelled their Kindle Fire order after the initial hype died down.

stophobophobia 15 Years · 6 comments

They're delaying purchase of the IPad 2 until (1) they can return their Kindle Fire once they realize what a piece of crap it is or (2) they get that long-awaited raise to be able to afford an iPad 2.

fecklesstechguy 15 Years · 501 comments

Keeping in mind that there are a number of use scenarios that justify buying the Fire, it still is more closed than the iPad/iOS platform, is oriented primarily towards Amazon's products and services, and running forked Android. This means that Amazon will have to maintain the OS, drive as much app commonality with Android as they can, while curating app delivery. They are using the platform as a loss-leader to drive expansion of their products and services. And after all these are folks who are PLANNING to buy the Fire, not ones who own one or are familiar with the platform. So this is essentially marketing analysis and speculation. It remains to be seen what the actual uptake numbers represent, and whether the Fire becomes the most (ironically) popular tabbie to date.

cmvsm 21 Years · 203 comments

7" form factor is too small with the growing screen size of the smart phone. I thought that I might actually like it, but it looked cumbersome on the commercials if you were doing anything outside of reading an online book.

Jobs and Ive knew what they were doing when they picked the 10 inch. I think that its the minimum form factor for average sized hands to be able to manipulate a virtual device.

After the hype dies down, the Fire will reduce to a color reader with advantages, but will most likely never be a stand alone device for more intense applications. The response of the development community is still in question as well.

starbird73 15 Years · 538 comments

So people who may have "wanted" an iPad before, but couldn't/wouldn't pay the $499+ for what ever reason are now saying they "delayed/put on hold" (same thing, right?) their decision on buying an iPad?

Hey, I would love a Lotus Elise, but I just saw a 2012 Nissan 370Z Coupe, and it does some of the same things, it's a car just like the Lotus is a car, and is about a 1/3 the price, so I have "delayed" my decision on the Lotus...

...that I wasn't really going to buy any time soon, anyway...