Amazon's Kindle e-reader sales are down, but so are most tablets

A recent report from the IDC showed that the last quarter of 2014 was hard on tablet manufacturers.

|
Elaine Thompson/AP
Microsoft's Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Operating Systems Group, speaks at an event demonstrating new features of its flagship operating system Windows at the company's headquarters Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015, in Redmond, Wash. Executives demonstrated how they said the new Windows is designed to provide a more consistent experience and a common platform for software apps on different devices, from personal computers to tablets, smartphones and even the company's Xbox gaming console.

Worldwide tablet shipments are slumping for the first time in the product's five-year history, according to a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Overall, in the fourth quarter of 2014 tablet shipments decreased by 3.2 percent year over year.

his is a blow for Apple and Samsung, the companies that dominate the tablet industry, but Amazon’s Kindle was hit the worst.

Amazon experienced a 69.9 percent decrease in tablet shipments over the past year, which is more than three times the loss that Apple or Samsung had, despite the fact that Amazon launched a new tablet this year.

The Kindle Fire was launched in October and was designed to be faster, lighter and include a better camera. But it does not appear to have boosted the product’s revenue. Amazon has not had much luck with its foray into phones either. The Amazon Fire phone is currently priced at only 99 cents, according to Business Insider.

Considering that Amazon is also the smallest manufacturer of tablets, that does not bode well for the life of the Kindle.

The Kindle’s main competitor is Barnes and Noble’s e-reader the Nook. Samsung, which manufactures the Nook, was down on shipping by 18.4 percent this past quarter as e-readers continue to lose out to more versatile tablets.

"The tablet market is still very top heavy in the sense that it relies mostly on Apple and Samsung to carry the market forward each year," said Jitesh Ubrani, Senior Research Analyst, Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker.

According to the IDC, Microsoft is not one of the top five manufacturers of tablets worldwide, and is therefore lumped into the "other" category in their charts.

Ubrani went on to say that despite offering cheaper iPad options, the excitement surrounding Apple’s new phones prevented a spike in iPad sales, and Samsung is struggling as it realizes that Android tablets do not do as well in today’s market.

The only company within the top five to experience an increase in tablet shipments in the fourth quarter was Lenovo, a Chinese manufacturing company that produces Android and Windows tablets. Lenovo experienced a 9.1 percent growth in 2014.

However,  the decrease in shipments over the last year does not necessarily signify the demise of tablet.

Tim Cook of Apple does not see tablets being profitable in the short run but thinks that they do have long-term market value, according to AppleInsider.

Researchers agree.

"Despite an apparent slow-down of the market, we maintain our forecast about tablet growth in 2015," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, research director, tablets for the IDC.  "Microsoft's new OS, a general shift towards larger screen form factor and productivity focused solutions, and technology innovations such as gesture interface that could be introduced in tablets will help the market maintain positive growth in 2015."

IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, February 2, 2015
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, February 2, 2015
You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Amazon's Kindle e-reader sales are down, but so are most tablets
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/0203/Amazon-s-Kindle-e-reader-sales-are-down-but-so-are-most-tablets
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe