Amazon’s line of Kindle eReaders and tablets once again broke Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales records for the company, while Apple’s iPad Mini struggles with supply issues.
Amazon’s Kindle numbers were helped along by a Cyber Monday sale on the Kindle Fire, which went for $129 yesterday. The tablet normally sells for $159.
Amazon said the Kindle Fire HD has achieved the most gifted and most wished for product on Amazon worldwide since launch, while 9 out of the top 10 best-selling products on Amazon worldwide since September are Kindles, Kindle accessories and digital content.
“Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fires have held the top 4 spots on the Amazon worldwide best sellers list since launch, and that was before the busiest shopping weekend of the year,” said Dave Limp, vice president of Amazon Kindle.
And if Amazon’s tablets were on fire, Apple’s smaller tablet entrant, the iPad Mini, which has been much maligned in reviews for its disappointing screen, appears to have hit a wall on supply problems.
According to Seeking Alpha, Apple still shows 2-week shipping times for the Mini, and Digitimes reports low yields for AU Optronics’ (AUO) LCD panels, which could lead to only 6 million Minis being shipped in the fourth quarter, below Apple’s target of 10M million. A Chinese paper is also claiming that Apple requested AUO halt panel shipments due to a high defect rate.
The tablet market continues to grow. According to third quarter numbers from IDC, total shipments grew 49.5 percent year-over-year. Android tablets, spearheaded by Amazon and Samsung, continued to snag share from Apple.
Apple’s iPad still managed to grab 50.4 percent market share in the third quarter, totaling 27.8 million units shipped worldwide, according to IDC. Samsung came in at a distant second on the OEM charts at 18.4 percent of total share, while Amazon took 9 percent.