Kindle Fire sales stronger than analysts expected

Amazon will announce fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday on the heels of what analysts called stronger-than-expected fourth quarter Kindle Fire tablet sales.

Amazon will announce fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday on the heels of what analysts called stronger-than-expected fourth quarter Kindle Fire tablet sales.

Amazon sold 6 million of the $199 Kindle Fire in the fourth quarter, a Stifel Nicolaus analyst said in a recent note after earlier predicting 5 million Kindle Fire sales for the period. Recently, a Barclays analyst upped his estimate for the quarter to 5.5 million units sold, a million more than the initial prediction for the period.

Amazon has not historically announced sales for a specific device, and is not likely to do so tomorrow. Apple last week said it had sold 15.4 million iPad tablets in the last quarter, more than double the number it sold for the same period in 2010. The iPad starts at $499.

Strategy Analytics last week said all kinds of Android tablets, including the Kindle Fire and a variety of Galaxy Tablets from Samsung, sold 10.5 million units in the fourth quarter, garnering almost 39.1% of the tablet market. That compares to Apple's share of nearly 58%.

Tablet details
Tablet Mfr. OS Screen size Internet connectivity 3G/4G carrier Storage Weight Processor Start price ($US) Ship date/est. ship date Notes
Acer 10-in. MeeGo tablet Acer MeeGo 10 in. Intel Atom 12/01/11 Part of Acer's Iconia "M Series." Shipping end of 2011.
Nook tablet Barnes & Noble Android 7 in. Wi-Fi 16GB built-in; MicroSD slot for up to 32GB 0.8 lb. 1GHz TI OMAP4 dual-core processor 249 11/18/11 Running 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Kindle Fire Amazon Android 7 in. Wi-Fi 8GB 0.91 lb. 1GHz dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP 199 11/15/11 No camera or mic; free cloud backup
Latitude ST business tablet Dell Windows 7 10.1 in. Wi-Fi, 3G optional 128GB 1.8 lbs. 11/01/11
Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus Samsung Android 7 in. HSPA+, HSPA, EDGE, GPRS and Wi-Fi Unknown 16GB or 32GB 0.75 lb. 1.2 GHz dual-core processors 10/30/11 Available in Indonesia, Austria, in late October, then gradual rollout in other countries, including U.S.
IdeaPad Lenovo Android 7 in. up to 32G internal; MicroSD and micro USB slots 0.88 lb. ARM single-core Cortex-A8 199 9/30/11
ThinkPad Tablet Lenovo Android 10.1 in. Wi-Fi 16GB 1.65 lbs. Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processors 479 8/31/11 Available in August; Model with digitizer touch pen is $509; 3G version coming later
Iconia Tab A100 Acer Android 7 in. 0.9 lb. Dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 329 8/12/11 Android 3.2 (Honeycomb)
IdeaPad Tablet K1 Lenovo Android 10.1 in. Wi-Fi 32GB 1.65 lbs. Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processors 500 8/11/11 Available in U.S. sometime in August 2011; outside U.S. later in the year
Cius Cisco Android 7 in. Wi-Fi/3G/4G Verizon 32GB + microSD 1.5 lbs. 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z615 705 7/31/11 Runs older Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS; will be updated to 3.0 Honeycomb but unclear when
WindPad Enjoy 7 MSI Android 7 in. Wi-Fi 4GB + microSD 0.87 lb. 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A8 199 7/29/11 Running 2.3 Gingerbread
WindPad Enjoy 10 MSI Android 10 in. Wi-Fi 4GB + microSD 1.7 lbs. 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A8 299 7/29/11 Running 2.3 Gingerbread
Thrive Toshiba Android 10.1 in. Wi-Fi 8GB, 16GB or 32GB 1.6 lbs. 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 429 7/10/11 Runs Android 3.1 Honeycomb; has removable battery pack
TouchPad HP webOS 9.7 in. Wi-Fi 16GB or 32GB 1.6 lbs. 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 500 7/1/11 AT&T 3G version due this summer
Galaxy Tab 10.1-in. Samsung Android 10.1 in. Wi-Fi 16GB or 32GB 1GHz dual-core 599 6/8/11 Includes enterprise mobile mgmt. software
Stylistic Q550 Slate PC Fujitsu Windows 7 10.1 in. Wi-Fi 30GB or 62GB 1.7 lbs. 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 (Oak Trail) 729 6/1/11
BlackBerry PlayBook RIM BlackBerry 7 in. Wi-Fi 16GB, 32GB or 64GB 0.9 lb. 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 499 4/19/11 3G/4G connectivity from Sprint, Verizon & AT&T promised for summer
iPad 2 Apple iOS 9.7 in. Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi/3G AT&T, Verizon 16GB, 32GB or 64GB 1.33 lbs. 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 499 3/11/11
Xoom Motorola Android 10.1 in. Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi/3G Verizon 32GB + microSD 1.56 lbs. 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 600 2/24/11 First tablet to run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS
Archos 70 Internet Tablet Archos Android 7 in. Wi-Fi 8GB or 250GB 0.71 lb. 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 300 12/29/10 Runs older Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS
Archos 101 Internet Tablet Archos Android 10.1 in. Wi-Fi 16GB 1.15 lbs. 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 350 11/22/10 Runs older Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS
Galaxy Tab 7-in. Samsung Android 7 in. Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi/3G AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon 16GB + microSD 0.88 lb. 1GHz single-core Cortex-A8 359 11/15/10 Runs older Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS
Slate 500 HP Windows 7 8.9 in. Wi-Fi 64GB 1.5 lbs. 1.68GHz single-core Intel Atom Z540 799 10/21/10
Galaxy Tab 8.9-in. Samsung Android 8.9 in. Wi-Fi 16GB or 32GB 1.04 lbs. 1GHz dual-core 469 Est. to ship early summer 2011. Includes enterprise mobile mgmt. software
MediaPad Huawei Android 7 in. 0.86 lbs. 1.2Ghz dual-core Qualcomm Shipping in U.S. in Q4 2011, running Android 3.2
HP 4G TouchPad HP webOS Wi-Fi/4G AT&T 32GB 1.5GHz Snapdragon QSD8672
Eee Pad Transformer Prime Asus Android 10 in. 32GB or 64GB 1.29 lbs. Nvidia quad-core Tegra 3 Will ship with Android 3.2, but will upgrade to Android 4.0. Will ship sometime in December.
WindPad 100A MSI Android 10 in. Wi-Fi up to 32GB 1.6 lbs. Dual-core ARM 1GB RAM
WindPad 110W MSI Windows 7 Wi-Fi up to 64GB 1.87 lbs. AMD Fusion 2GB RAM
ViewPad 10Pro ViewSonic Windows 7, Android 10 in. 30GB or 62GB 1.76 lbs. Atom Z670 (Oak Trail) 699 On sale in Taiwan in June
ViewPad 7x ViewSonic Android 7 in. 0.84 lb. Shipping in July in Taiwan
Padfone Asus Android Combination phone and tablet. No word on ship date.
AT200 Toshiba Android 10.1 in. Wi-Fi microSD cards, micro-USB port 1.2 lbs. dual-core 1.2GHz 0.3-in thick, shipping in Q4
Note Samsung Android 5.3 in. LET, HSPA+, NFC 16G or 32G 0.39 lb. dual-core 1.4GHZ Users can write on Super Amoled screen with digital S pen. Has 1G RAM, 8M HD camera
Galaxy Tab 7.7 Samsung Android 7.7 in. LTE, GSPA 0.74 lb. dual-core 1.4GHz Super Amoled screen
IdeaPad Tablet P1 Lenovo Windows 7 10.1 in. Wi-Fi Not given 1.75 lbs. 1.5GHz Intel chip Pricing not announced; available in Q4
Slate 2 HP Windows 7 8.9 in. Wi-Fi 32GB 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 699
Tablet S and Tablet P Sony Android 9.4 in. for S1, dual 5.5-in. screens for S2 Wi-Fi and 3G 16G or 32G 372 to 625 grams 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 Wi-Fi only shipping in Europe in Sept.; 3G in November; 20.6mm thick

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.