Kindle Fire sales to top 15 million in 2012, reckons Barclays

Amazon's Kindle Fire may be grappling with the headlines, but bargain hunting consumers will still propel its cheaper eReader brethren to the higher number of sales according to projections by Barclays.

The bank expects the firm's new Android tablet which had reportedly amassed more than 250,000 pre-orders within its first five days to shift 15.3 million units in 2012.

That's a number that would put it well above most non-iPad tablets: RIM is believed to have shipped fewer than 700,000 PlayBooks worldwide as of Q2, while around 1 million TouchPads were reportedly sold after it was dropped by HP.

The price is tight

However, said Fire's performance will still pale in comparison to the 24.5 million eReaders Barclays' expects Amazon to sell during the same period.

Barclays doesn't give a fixed reason as to the disparity between sales, but it's difficult to look beyond price.

Coming in as low as $79, Amazon's new Kindle eReader range is likely to be an impulse buy for many. The $199 Kindle Fire though itself anything but expensive when stood side by side with iPad - won't fly off the shelves at quite the same rate as a result.

Revenue raiser

Combined, however, Amazon's Kindle business will continue to be a force for the online retail giant. Barclays estimates 14 percent of Amazon's yearly revenue in 2012 will be generated by Kindle tablet and eReader sales.

That would represent $9.4 billion of an estimated revenue total of $67 billion.

Also, Barclays claims 45 percent of all Amazon's physical and digital media revenue will be notched up through sales of media consumed via such devices.

Recent YouGov research indicated Kindle Fire's low price will go some way to helping the firm emerge as the second horse in the tablet race behind iPad. More expensive offerings from other Android OEMs, the firm claimed, will miss out.

[source: mocoNews]