Telecom Lead India: Amazon has slashed the price of Kindle Fire HD 8.9” tablet.
The tablet, which will also be available in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan, will be priced at $269 for the Wi-Fi version and $399 for the 4G version.
IDC said smaller and lower-priced tablets will fuel the market to achieve 190.9 million units in 2013. As per IDC’s revised estimates tablet shipments will be upwards of 350 million by the end of 2017.
One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size. Smaller tablets will continue growing in 2013 and beyond.
Android’s market share in the tablet space will reach 48.8 percent in 2013. Apple’s iOS market share will decrease to 46 percent in 2013 from 51 percent in 2012.
Dave Limp, vice president, Amazon Kindle, said: “As we expand Kindle Fire HD 8.9” to Europe and Japan, we’ve been able to increase our production volumes and decrease our costs. Across our business at Amazon, whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we want to pass the savings along to our customers.”
Amazon is slashing the tablet price at time when eReader segment is facing challenges.
IDC believes eReader shipments peaked in 2011 at 26.4 million units. After declining to 18.2 million units in 2012, the category is expected to grow only modestly in 2013 and 2014, before it begins a gradual and permanent decline beginning in 2015.
Kindle Fire HD 8.9” is the highest-resolution, largest-display Kindle Fire. Designed for entertainment, it is perfect for web, apps, movies, games and magazines.
According to IDC, tablet shipments worldwide will grow 11 percent this year to 109.9 million, and Android’s share will reach 48.8 percent. That would decline only slightly to 46 percent by 2017.
Apple’s share will drop below 50 percent for the first time this year with a 46 percent share, and down to 43.5 percent by 2017.
The biggest growth predicted is for Windows, from 2.8 percent to 7.4 percent for Windows 8 devices and 1.9 percent to 2.7 percent for Windows RT-based devices.
