It looks like the Amazon Kindle is slated to sell 5 Million e-Readers this year. Douglas Anmuth, analyst for Barclays Capital, stated Wednesday, Sept 29, 2010, that not only will Amazon see a success due to the redesign of their popular Kindle, but the lower price tag for the WiFi version is sure to push sales higher.
Anmuth claims the sales of Kindles could double in the next couple years, reaching an astronomical 11.5 million by 2012.
The Kindle creates a “bifurcated” market, where the lower-cost, niche products co-exist within the higher-end market. So while other analysts suggest consumers tend to buy only one product, that claim isn’t stopping the Kindle from showing up in all areas of the market – including the arena where tablets like the iPad currently reign.
No matter the popularity of the Kindle, Amazon is in a great position making money off the sales of the iPad as the Kindle software app for the iPad is still one of the most popular software titles. Additionally, Amazon is launching Kindle software for RIM’s Blackberry Playbook, and the Android as well as other popular platforms.
While the Kindle will do well, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munsher believes the iPad will do better, predicting the iPad to sell around 10.7 million devices in 2010, and approximately 21 million in 2011. Sales will be even higher if the rumors of a smaller, hardware re-designed iPad turn out to be true.
Calling the iPad the “Mac for the Masses”, Munsher states, “We believe the iPad represents a meaningful product category for Apple as a secondary computing device for those who already have a primary computer, a primary device for those who could not previously afford a Mac, and the first Apple product that will be a success in the enterprise; we see the iPad as the Mac for the masses,”
However, no matter the popularity of the iPad, according to Jason Hiner from ZDnet.com “[the iPad’s] capabilities sometimes get exaggerated…It’s only good for two things: Reading and Scrabble.”
