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23 Nov
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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Retailers bank on Kindle Fire for holidays
NEW YORK (AP) – Amazon’s Kindle Fire is a Catch-22 for retailers: The $199 tablet computer could both help Christmas traffic and hurt future sales.
Retailers hope the Kindle Fire’s low price tag – which is less than half that of Apple’s cheapest iPad tablet – will attract shoppers to stores during the busy holiday season. But the device, which offers free shipping and other incentives for customers to shop at Amazon, ultimately could drive sales to their online nemesis.
“I could impulse shop,” said Robin Rothberg, 33, a lecturer at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. “My phone is too small and my laptop is too cumbersome to start on a whim. But a tablet would put e-commerce nearly instantly at my fingertips, anytime.”
That’s the dilemma retailers now face. Tablets are almost sure to be a big hit this holiday season for the likes of Wal-Mart and Best Buy. But at a time when more consumers are eschewing big-box stores to shop online, tablets are making it easier for them to do so. In fact, a Forrester Research study found that more shoppers who browse on tablets tend to buy – and place bigger orders – than they do when using personal computers or smartphones.
“Every electronics retailer has said that tablets are going to be a cornerstone of holiday offerings, so it is important to have the product in stores,” says R.J. Hottovy, a Morningstar analyst. But, “It could work against them, very much so.”
Retailers long have depended on electronic gadgets to drive sales during the holiday period. (Think: smartphones last year and flat-screen TVs the Christmas before.) New products during the holidays can build buzz and drive traffic to stores, which can lead to higher sales during the two-month period in which retailers can make up to a third of their annual revenue.
This year is no exception. Forrester Research expects 24 million tablets will be sold in 2011, topping the estimated 20 million PCs that are expected to be sold, but short of the 29 million laptops that are expected to sell.
Apple’s iPad2, the cheapest model of which costs $499, is the dominate player. The iPad accounts for three out of every four tablets sold. Other tablets make up a small percentage of the market, including the Motorola Xoom ($499 for the Wi-Fi only version); the Blackberry PlayBook (starting at $499); and CherryPad’s CherryPal ($190.)
The Kindle Fire, which was unveiled last Wednesday, is the first tablet that’s expected to be a formidable competitor to the iPad2. Forrester Research predicts Amazon could sell 3 million of the tablet that runs on Google Inc.’s Android software by year’s end. Meanwhile, Apple has sold nearly 29 million since it released the first one in April 2010.
“We think these Kindles are going to be some of the hottest gifts this year,” said Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy Co., the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer that has been struggling in the down economy. He adds that tablets and electronic readers have “captivated consumers.”
But Amazon’s tablet could do more than that. The Kindle Fire’s ability to show e-books, surf the Web, stream movies and TV shows and support apps is expected to drive sales of Amazon’s digital content. These capabilities could be a big draw for consumers, many of who already are ditching paperback books and DVDs in bricks-and-mortar stores.
The tablet could also drive sales of clothes and other doodads away from retailers to Amazon. The Kindle Fire comes with a free month of Amazon’s premium shipping service, Amazon Prime. The service, which costs $79 per year, gives users unlimited two-day shipping on any items purchased on Amazon, as well as free access to 11,000 streaming movies and TV shows. After that period, Kindle Fire users can pay for the service.
Amazon Inc. did not immediately return a request for comment.
Kevin Engelkamp, 26-year-old business analyst who lives in Omaha, says once he gets a Kindle Fire, he plans to take advantage of all the perks.
“I’d probably order more (on Amazon) since I’d have free two-day shipping,” said Engelkamp, who shops online a couple times a month. “I’m definitely going to ask for one for Christmas, and if I don’t get it I’m going to buy one for myself.”
For now, the excitement surrounding the Kindle Fire is expected to be a boon for Amazon and bricks-and-mortar stores alike. The tablet, which ships Nov. 15, has been the top-selling electronics device on Amazon since it debuted. And stores are gearing up for brisk sales of the tablet.
“We were hoping they would come out with a device that would take the market by storm; it’s getting great reviews and the price is fantastic,” said Mark Mettler, a senior vice president at office supply retailer Staples Inc., who added that he does not consider Amazon a competitive threat. “We wouldn’t carry Amazon’s products if we didn’t support efforts.”
But John Tomlinson, an ITG analyst, said the outlook for retailers may be grim.
“It exacerbates the sharp decline in sales of physical books and movies,” he said. “Long term, it continues to highlight the challenges brick-and-mortar retailers will face.”
By MAE ANDERSON – AP Retail Writer | AP
Get The Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet NOW AVAILABLE
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21 Nov
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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Braving the Amazon: $79 Kindle costs $84 to produce, will online retailer recoup loss?
Just last month it was reported that Amazon’s profits were down 73% due to the online company’s heavy investment in its various tablets, including the Kindle Fire, which is set to release on November 15th.
Additionally, it was reported that Amazon was bracing itself for the eventually release of its hotly anticipated tablet, knowing it would have to sell the tablet at a $10 loss and recoup that through content that customers purchased. While the impending loss on Kindle Fire hardware sales is no secret, according to a report from MainStreet, with the help of iSuppli, Amazon is also taking a loss on the $79 Kindle.
According to the report, the materials used to make the $79 Kindle total at an estimated $78.59 while the manufacturing costs sits at $5.66, bumping the total to $84.25. It’s important to note however, that the $79 Kindle does come with a host of ads that help ease the majority of the subsidized costs.
Even though Amazon is selling the $79 Kindle at a loss doesn’t mean it’s losing money in the long term. “This is a subsidized device that comes with advertisements that make money for the company and offsets that manufacturing price, giving Amazon its profit margins,” says Rob Enderle, Digital Trends contributor and principal analyst at The Enderle Group.
Of course the strategy being employed by Amazon is a luxury that the company can afford. The ad-sponsored Kindle is the third in its generation allowing Amazon the time to explore various revenue models and price the device at the lowest figure possible. And because the Kindle also sells and directs users to various Amazon services and products; the company is further given the marketing maneuverability to be aggressive as it is being.
Enderle goes on to predict that more and more companies will follow suit and aggressively market their respective e-readers and tablets.
“We’re just starting with this concept and I expect other businesses will follow it as well, “Enderle says.
By Amir Iliaifar | Digital Trends
Get The Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet NOW AVAILABLE
| Category: Amazon Tablet | Tag: amazon kindle fire tablet, amazon tablet, iSuppli, Kindle, kindle fire, kindle fire tablet, MainStreet, Rob Enderle |
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19 Nov
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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Amazon sells $199 tablet at a loss
NEW YORK (AP) – Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle Fire tablet, which started shipping this week, costs $201.70 to make, a research firm said Friday. That’s $2.70 more than Amazon charges for it.
The analysis by IHS indicates that Amazon is, at least initially, selling the tablet at a loss that it hopes to cover through sales of books and movies for the device. The manufacturing cost of a new gadget usually comes down over time as chips become cheaper.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told The Associated Press in September that the company’s goal was to make a small profit from the hardware, but as a retail company, Amazon was willing to live with a smaller margin than most electronics companies would.
“We want the hardware device to be profitable and the content to be profitable. We really don’t want to subsidize one with the other,” Bezos said.
IHS’s estimate includes the cost of components and assembly, but not the costs of development, marketing or packaging. The most expensive part of the Kindle Fire is the 7-inch (17-centimeter) color touch screen, which costs $87.
Amazon kept the cost of the tablet low compared to Apple Inc.’s iPad and similar tablets by making it smaller – the screen is half the size of that for the iPad – keeping the amount of memory low and excluding a camera and microphone.
But the difference in manufacturing cost is much smaller than the difference in retail price: IHS puts the cost of the basic iPad 2 model at just under $300, while Apple sells it for $499.
By PETER SVENSSON | AP
Get The Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet NOW AVAILABLE
| Category: Amazon Tablet | Tag: amazon kindle fire tablet, amazon tablet, IHS, Jeff Bezos, kindle fire, kindle fire tablet |
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22 Oct
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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| Category: Kindle Fire Pictures | Tag: amazon kindle fire tablet, amazon tablet, kindle fire, kindle fire tablet |
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20 Oct
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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| Category: Kindle Fire Pictures | Tag: amazon kindle fire tablet, amazon tablet, kindle fire, kindle fire tablet |
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18 Oct
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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| Category: Kindle Fire Pictures | Tag: amazon kindle fire tablet, amazon tablet, kindle fire, kindle fire tablet |
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16 Oct
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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| Category: Kindle Fire Pictures | Tag: amazon kindle fire tablet, amazon tablet, kindle fire, kindle fire tablet |
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14 Oct
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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| Category: Kindle Fire Pictures | Tag: amazon kindle fire tablet, amazon tablet, kindle fire, kindle fire tablet |
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13 Oct
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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Retailers bank on Kindle Fire for holidays
NEW YORK (AP) – Amazon’s Kindle Fire is a Catch-22 for retailers: The $199 tablet computer could both help Christmas traffic and hurt future sales.
Retailers hope the Kindle Fire’s low price tag – which is less than half that of Apple’s cheapest iPad tablet – will attract shoppers to stores during the busy holiday season. But the device, which offers free shipping and other incentives for customers to shop at Amazon, ultimately could drive sales to their online nemesis.
“I could impulse shop,” said Robin Rothberg, 33, a lecturer at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. “My phone is too small and my laptop is too cumbersome to start on a whim. But a tablet would put e-commerce nearly instantly at my fingertips, anytime.”
That’s the dilemma retailers now face. Tablets are almost sure to be a big hit this holiday season for the likes of Wal-Mart and Best Buy. But at a time when more consumers are eschewing big-box stores to shop online, tablets are making it easier for them to do so. In fact, a Forrester Research study found that more shoppers who browse on tablets tend to buy – and place bigger orders – than they do when using personal computers or smartphones.
“Every electronics retailer has said that tablets are going to be a cornerstone of holiday offerings, so it is important to have the product in stores,” says R.J. Hottovy, a Morningstar analyst. But, “It could work against them, very much so.”
Retailers long have depended on electronic gadgets to drive sales during the holiday period. (Think: smartphones last year and flat-screen TVs the Christmas before.) New products during the holidays can build buzz and drive traffic to stores, which can lead to higher sales during the two-month period in which retailers can make up to a third of their annual revenue.
This year is no exception. Forrester Research expects 24 million tablets will be sold in 2011, topping the estimated 20 million PCs that are expected to be sold, but short of the 29 million laptops that are expected to sell.
Apple’s iPad2, the cheapest model of which costs $499, is the dominant player. The iPad accounts for three out of every four tablets sold. Other tablets make up a small percentage of the market, including the Motorola Xoom ($499 for the Wi-Fi only version); the Blackberry PlayBook (starting at $499); and CherryPad’s CherryPal ($190.)
The Kindle Fire, which was unveiled last Wednesday, is the first tablet that’s expected to be a formidable competitor to the iPad2. Forrester Research predicts Amazon could sell 3 million of the tablet that runs on Google Inc.’s Android software by year’s end.
Meanwhile, Apple has sold nearly 29 million since it released the first one in April 2010.
“We think these Kindles are going to be some of the hottest gifts this year,” said Brian Dunn, CEO of Best Buy Co., the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer that has been struggling in the down economy. He adds that tablets and electronic readers have “captivated consumers.”
But Amazon’s tablet could do more than that. The Kindle Fire’s ability to show e-books, surf the Web, stream movies and TV shows and support apps is expected to drive sales of Amazon’s digital content. These capabilities could be a big draw for consumers, many of who already are ditching paperback books and DVDs in bricks-and-mortar stores.
The tablet could also drive sales of clothes and other doodads away from retailers to Amazon. The Kindle Fire comes with a free month of Amazon’s premium shipping service, Amazon Prime. The service, which costs $79 per year, gives users unlimited two-day shipping on any items purchased on Amazon, as well as free access to 11,000 streaming movies and TV shows. After that period, Kindle Fire users can pay for the service.
Amazon Inc. did not immediately return a request for comment.
Kevin Engelkamp, 26-year-old business analyst who lives in Omaha, says once he gets a Kindle Fire, he plans to take advantage of all the perks.
“I’d probably order more (on Amazon) since I’d have free two-day shipping,” said Engelkamp, who shops online a couple times a month. “I’m definitely going to ask for one for Christmas, and if I don’t get it I’m going to buy one for myself.”
For now, the excitement surrounding the Kindle Fire is expected to be a boon for Amazon and bricks-and-mortar stores alike. The tablet, which ships Nov. 15, has been the top-selling electronics device on Amazon since it debuted. And stores are gearing up for brisk sales of the tablet.
“We were hoping they would come out with a device that would take the market by storm; it’s getting great reviews and the price is fantastic,” said Mark Mettler, a senior vice president at office supply retailer Staples Inc., who added that he does not consider Amazon a competitive threat. “We wouldn’t carry Amazon’s products if we didn’t support efforts.”
But John Tomlinson, an ITG analyst, said the outlook for retailers may be grim.
“It exacerbates the sharp decline in sales of physical books and movies,” he said. “Long term, it continues to highlight the challenges brick-and-mortar retailers will face.”
By MAE ANDERSON – AP Retail Writer | AP
Get The Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet NOW AVAILABLE
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12 Oct
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Posted by Kindle Fire Tablet
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| Category: Kindle Fire Pictures | Tag: amazon kindle fire tablet, amazon tablet, kindle fire, kindle fire tablet |
