4 ms·

Leaked Sales Numbers Suggest Amazon Kindle Fire On Track To Outsell iPad

9 points by davidedicillo 15y ago

nirvana 15y ago
Amazon is good at retail fulfillment, but they are absolutely brilliant at PR based marketing. I really think that journalists, when they are called by a PR agent for a firm, should not report what the PR agent tells them as a "leak". "Leak" implies that some employee let the information out against the express wishes of their boss... but this is not what has happened here. I'm familiar with the culture and organizational structure of Amazon. Only a very small number of people in Amazon would have access to this information, and none of those people would be where they are if they were the kind of person who "leaked" information. This is a plant. It is a plant based on the first 5 days of sales of a new product. A new product that had weeks and weeks of "leaks" including someone putting an actual tablet in MG Sieglers hands. (Tell me it wasn't a PR rep or executive in the company that did that...) So, Amazon hyped up their new kindle for several weeks, then announced it, and got a bump in sales of the new device right after the announcement. I wonder how many fewer than average kindles they sold in the weeks prior to that? Then, cult of mac, a blog who regularly plays fast and loose with the facts, compares those 5 days of sales-- after weeks of hype and right after the announcement-- to the average rate of sales of the iPad, over a much longer period, and concludes that the Kindle is "on track" to outsell the iPad. Talk about picking only favorable data to fit your conclusion! Also, shouldn't a device that costs half as much (and does far less, naturally) outsell a more expensive device? Shouldn't you expect a toyota to outsell a BMW, no matter how much extra value the BMW adds? Would you even say the BMW and the toyota are in comparable categories?
- ericabiz 15y ago
  "Would you even say the BMW and the toyota are in comparable categories?" I would. They both get you from point A to point B. And for most people, that's what matters. You are missing the real point here. Most people aren't making a choice between the Kindle Fire and the iPad. Most people are making a choice between a Kindle Fire and some other non-essential purchase (like an extra couple pairs of shoes.) The Kindle Fire will blow open the market for tablets. It will appeal to an entire set of the population that could not previously afford or justify a tablet. It will be very interesting to watch development in this space. You have Amazon hitting Apple on the low end, and Microsoft gearing up to hit Apple on the high end with Windows 8 tablets that run regular Windows programs. The iPad is getting some stiff competition.
  - tobylane 15y ago
    You may get enterprise (and take-home-enterprise) windows tablets in the iPad price area, but they'll be mostly cheaper, like Android tablets are generally prices similar to the phones.

9 points by davidedicillo 15y ago

Amazon is good at retail fulfillment, but they are absolutely brilliant at PR based marketing. I really think that journalists, when they are called by a PR agent for a firm, should not report what the PR agent tells them as a "leak". "Leak" implies that some employee let the information out against the express wishes of their boss... but this is not what has happened here. I'm familiar with the culture and organizational structure of Amazon. Only a very small number of people in Amazon would have access to this information, and none of those people would be where they are if they were the kind of person who "leaked" information. This is a plant. It is a plant based on the first 5 days of sales of a new product. A new product that had weeks and weeks of "leaks" including someone putting an actual tablet in MG Sieglers hands. (Tell me it wasn't a PR rep or executive in the company that did that...) So, Amazon hyped up their new kindle for several weeks, then announced it, and got a bump in sales of the new device right after the announcement. I wonder how many fewer than average kindles they sold in the weeks prior to that? Then, cult of mac, a blog who regularly plays fast and loose with the facts, compares those 5 days of sales-- after weeks of hype and right after the announcement-- to the average rate of sales of the iPad, over a much longer period, and concludes that the Kindle is "on track" to outsell the iPad. Talk about picking only favorable data to fit your conclusion! Also, shouldn't a device that costs half as much (and does far less, naturally) outsell a more expensive device? Shouldn't you expect a toyota to outsell a BMW, no matter how much extra value the BMW adds? Would you even say the BMW and the toyota are in comparable categories?

ericabiz 15y ago
"Would you even say the BMW and the toyota are in comparable categories?" I would. They both get you from point A to point B. And for most people, that's what matters. You are missing the real point here. Most people aren't making a choice between the Kindle Fire and the iPad. Most people are making a choice between a Kindle Fire and some other non-essential purchase (like an extra couple pairs of shoes.) The Kindle Fire will blow open the market for tablets. It will appeal to an entire set of the population that could not previously afford or justify a tablet. It will be very interesting to watch development in this space. You have Amazon hitting Apple on the low end, and Microsoft gearing up to hit Apple on the high end with Windows 8 tablets that run regular Windows programs. The iPad is getting some stiff competition.
- tobylane 15y ago
  You may get enterprise (and take-home-enterprise) windows tablets in the iPad price area, but they'll be mostly cheaper, like Android tablets are generally prices similar to the phones.