Amazon’s new tablet, the Kindle Fire, is set to release on November 15th, and the buzz surrounding the device is pretty high. The Wi-Fi only tablet sports a 7-inch display, a dual-core processor, but lacks a camera or mic. In terms of features, it’s not the most loaded tablet on the market (although it will have a good amount of apps at launch). But that price point is pretty tasty – $199, hundreds of dollars less than many other comparable tablets on the market. And of course, there’s the new Silk browser that’s raising both excitement and concerns.
But Amazon looks to be confident in its new tablet, as they have reportedly increased order of the Kindle Fire to 5 million before the end of 2011.
The report comes courtesy of DigiTimes, who quotes sources within upstream component suppliers. This increase follows another recent increase from 3.5 million units to 4 million units.
Estimates point to the fact that Amazon has a reason to be confident – some put the pre-order figures at nearly 100,000 on the first day and 20,000 every subsequent day for about a week.
Another recent survey conducted by ChangeWave points to significant demand for the Kindle Fire.
The survey of 2,600 “early adopter types” found that 5% had either already pre-ordered the device or were very likely to buy it once it hit the shelves. 12% said that they were somewhat likely to buy the tablet.
In comparison, the same survey conducted in 2010 found that 4% had pre-ordered or were very likely to purchase Apple’s iPad, with only 9% saying that they were “somewhat likely.”
Additionally, 26% of the “very likely to buy a Kindle Fire crowd” said that they would delay or put on hold buying a new iPad.
It’s highly unlikely that the Kindle Fire will knock the crown off the iPad, but it is possible that with the cheap(er) price and the trusted Amazon name, it will cut into the iPad’s dominance. What do you think? Are you planning on giving the Kindle Fire a shot? Let us know in the comments.