IHS: Amazon takes bite out of Apple’s market share for tablets

According to the projections put forth by analysis firm IHS, Amazon. com has, in the first quarter of sales of its new `Kindle Fire' tablet, emerged as the No. 2 seller of popular mobile devices in the US.

Noting that Amazon has rapidly ascended to the position of the second-biggest seller after taking a bite out of market-leading Apple's share of the tablet market, the IHS estimates indicate that as many as 3.9 million units of the Kindle Fire will be shipped by Amazon in the fourth quarter. The projected sales of the Amazon tablet will give the company a 13.8 percent share of the tablet business worldwide.

Despite the fact that Apple will likely continue to dominate the global tablets arena with its present 65.6 percent market share, the key point that the IHS data underscores is that the market-leader's share has already come done from the 69.7 percent figure reported for the third quarter.

According to Rhoda Alexander, IHS' senior manager for tablet research, what has apparently worked for the Kindle Fire is Amazon's approach to the market as well as the tablet's lower price --- while the iPad starts at $499 in the US, the Kindle Fire has a much-affordable price-tag of $199!

Further adding that the Amazon Kindle Fire "has created chaos in the Android tablet market," Alexander said almost two years after the launch of the Apple iPad, "a competitor has finally developed an alternative which looks like it might have enough of Apple's secret sauce to succeed."