Could The Kindle Fire Outsell All Honeycomb Tablets Combined By The End Of The Year?
Could The Kindle Fire Outsell All Honeycomb Tablets Combined By The End Of The Year?
Posted 10/14/2011 at 10:25am
| by Brad Chacos
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Just how big could the $200 Kindle Fire be when it launches next month? Pretty friggin’ big. Not “Bigger than the iPad” big – at least not yet – but some sales forecasts and thought-provoking, yet unofficial calculations by an Android developer show that the Fire and its custom Android 2.3 interface could own a bigger slice of the market pie than all Android Honeycomb tablets combined before the end of the year.
First, the easy part: an analyst from Rodman & Renshaw told CNET yesterday that record preorders for the Kindle could very well leave Amazon with over 5 million of the tablets shipped by the end of the year – and that’s not even counting the other, cheaper versions. Sales are expected to increase even more once the Fire actually hits the streets on November 15th.
Then, there’s Honeycomb tablets. A dev by the name of Al Sutton did some quick math and came up with some interesting numbers after hearing Google head Larry Page say that there are 190 million Android devices out there in the wild, a number Page threw down in yesterday’s earnings calls with investors. Engadget reports that Sutton checked the Android Developers website, which shows that only 1.8 percent of all Android gadgets that have tapped into the Android Marketplace in the past two weeks run Honeycomb. Running the numbers, that boils down to approximately 3.42 million tablets running Honeycomb . Of course, two-weeks isn’t the largest sampling frame, but the calculation is food for thought, nonetheless.
And the iPad? The same CNET article says Apple pushes 12 million of the tablets every quarter. So what do you guys think? Will the Kindle Fire’s low price point push it past Android Honeycomb’s limited sales success in the tablet market?
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Keith E. Whisman
October 16, 2011 at 10:23am
Here is something that Apple's Ipad doesn't have, Angrybirds for free.
Keith E. Whisman
October 15, 2011 at 9:15pm
I love playing around with the "games" (not great but they are addicting) on my 10.1" Acer Iconia Tab A500 tablet. I'm finally playing around with netflix, although I had to do some hacking to get netflix working on my tablet, it was worth it and its thoroughly enjoyable. It's quite positively the best platform for using Gmail. On my computer I use MS OutLook 2010 to view my Gmail but the Gmail app on my Android tablet is fantastic. I can finally comfortably browse the internet on the toilet, the couch, kitchen table, and bed. I use my tablet more now than I use my desktop and laptop.
My Tablet runs a custom rom based on Honeycomb 3.2 and this 7" tablet is running on a super modified version of 2.3 Gingerbread, a cell phone OS. But at this price I just can't imagine that these tablets will be void of Honeycomb for long. There will be a lot of ports and modded Roms available before you know it.
I was thinking about getting a really cheap Colby tablet for my 7 year old son at around $149 dollars but this is probably a little higher end though. My 7 year old boy can't read but he can get online and stream Ben10 and The Avengers cartoons just fine on his own. Smart kid.
Wingzero_x
October 16, 2011 at 6:49am
That Need for Speed on there is pretty sweet. I actually had one of those, but unfortunately I could'nt get Netflix working, and say what you say when in comes to those digital downloads that come with DVDs, iTunes is the better option since all the DRM licensing is tied to your iTunes account. So I returned it and got the iPad. Getting that first though really helped me out, as if I had bought the iPad first I would've bought the 3G version. Now I have a wifi hot spot that I can use for both the iPad and my laptop.
BTW if you need a good file manager to access your USB, or MicroSD download ES File manager from the store.
Keith E. Whisman
October 16, 2011 at 10:19am
Yeah, it did take a little effort (ever so slight) to get netflix working on my tablet and it's rotatable so I can rotate my tablet and watch it any way I want.
This tablet is just soo customizable, I really just play with it all the time. I can't believe how much enjoyment I get out of this thing. My wifes sees me playing with my tablet and she just shakes her head as I give this tablet more attention than I do her or the kids.
ES is a really good file manager and I use it for a lot but I also payed for and use Root Explorer a lot for editing system files and moving roms back and forth to the SDCard.
I use Google Beta and it's freaking awesome. I have access to 18,000 of my songs on my laptop, tablet, and cell phone anytime I want so long as I have a network connection.
The Future is now and technically at least, (and not economically) the futur is great.
Wingzero_x
October 17, 2011 at 10:01am
"The Future is now and technically at least, (and not economically) the future is great."
Such a great and fitting quote. As someone that has been around computers for a while, it really is hard for me when I see IT professionals shunning products because they feel they are just marketing grabs for the John Q Public. Do these people understand that it wasn't that long ago when a computer system, that had no onboard storage, RAM in the K's, and no concept of the internet. Yet, we bought them. Why?, because we saw the future in them, and the same goes for tablets today. While some may say they have no use for tablets, Well what use did the consumers of the home PC have of our systems? There was no internet, and better games were on the Atari that cost about a tenth of the price.
Also another thing these ITprofessionals should know is that thier personal opinions matter for little, if they don't support the hardware/software combinations in use, then their service will be of no use.
The first computer I ever bought was an IBM PCjr, my latest Apple iPad2, and I look forward to whats next....
jaypers
October 14, 2011 at 12:49pm
IT by Profession--Geek by Hobby....
And I still don't know what the hell I would ever do with a tablet computer.
tekknyne
October 15, 2011 at 10:14am
I'm with you on that. One of my managers at work has an IPad and I quote: "Yeah, this thing is awesome. It does everything! I can check my email.... ". He didn't further to explain after that. I LOL'd.
But at $200, they're starting to look more and more attractive. I just bought a $300 AMD-fusion based laptop, and while it's relatively powerful, I don't use it for much. The 15.6" screen and GPU can do fallout new vegas pretty well, but it still pales in comparison to my hulking desktop, Thinking it may be nicer to have something sigificantly smaller, and less expensive since all I would do is poke around the web and remote desktop.
Wingzero_x
October 15, 2011 at 8:28am
Well being so small minded isn't going to help you any. I just fixed a computer in Florida, using my iPad, and I'm in Ohio. Point is you can do nearly as much as a laptop at a fraction of the weight.
tekknyne
October 15, 2011 at 10:21am
I wouldnt be so quick to call someone small-minded. It's neat that you use remote desktop on your tablet. Kudos.
Do some research on supply-side economics to figure out why tablets are being crammed downed our consumerist throats. I like tablets. THey're neat. But I have no real need for them quite yet. I'm taking a lets-wait approach. Once I can get dual core 2ghz, 2 gigs of ram, 2 days of battery power, etc that would make them more appealing. Right now you just pay the enthusiast-premium for a glorified smart phone.
Wingzero_x
October 16, 2011 at 6:28am
Sorry, about that I meant narrow minded. As in we all have to look at the new technologies and see if they really have a place, or if its the next HD-DVD. Let's not forget just a few years ago we all scoffed at laptops, as they were all expensive and couldn't do half of what a desktop could do at a quarter the price. That also brings up another question, is all that power really necessary? For years we've been lead to believe we needed faster and faster processors, and in turn what happened? Programs became bigger, and bigger, and used more and more system resources. To do the same thing you were doing with a fraction of the power. Personally I find it refreshing to have a light weight option, where the software is designed to be more efficient that does just about anything I would want to do, and with enough battery life.
georgey
October 14, 2011 at 10:41am
I think Amazon has a real winner here, it's a tablet for the mass market. Does it make sense for most of the people who frequent this site? Probably not.
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