Possible Q4 Unit Sales Of Amazon’s New Tablet Could Reach 5 Million
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According to Forrester Research, Amazon has the potential to sell between three and five million units of their yet-to-be-released super secret tablet within the last three months of 2011. Reuters reported Forrester Research’s Sarah Rotman Epps as saying that Amazon would have to offer the tablet at significantly lower prices than the average tablet, and would have to have enough supply to meet the demand, but that they could reach the 5 million mark by the end of the fourth quarter.
Since its debut in April of 2010, Apple has sold 30 million iPads. While many competitors have entered the market, none have matched the iPad and they continue to fall short in the market share numbers. Forrester Research believes, as many others do, that Amazon has the potential to finally close the gap.
Epps was quoted as saying in her report, “Not only does Amazon have the potential to gain share quickly but its willingness to sell hardware at a loss, as it did with the Kindle, makes Amazon a nasty competitor.”
One reason that other tablets have not made a dent in overall sales is the lackluster appeal of Android’s Honeycomb, as well as other operating systems. Apple’s iOS boasts nearly 100,000 iPad-specific apps, not to mention the thousands of universal apps available in iTunes, while Android’s tablet operating system languishes at around 300 apps. Epps believes that app developers that have not focused their attention on Honeycomb in the past may do so if enough people show interest in Amazon’s tablet.
If Amazon can offer a top-quality tablet device that is different enough than the Kindle, while being priced as low as one, then the company really may have a shot at giving the iPad a run for its money.
