Since its worldwide launch on Amazon.com just over 13 weeks ago, the Kindle Fire has been the “number one best-selling, more gifted and most wished for product” of the holiday season. The company said "gifting" of Kindle books between November 25 and Christmas Day rose 175% compared to the holiday period last year with Christmas Day the biggest day ever for Kindle book downloads.
On its webstore, Amazon has stated that the Kindle is its best-selling product in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Consumers have begun an all-out frenzy on sales of digital media, including e-books, videos and other digital content. The company said "gifting" of Kindle books between November 25 and Christmas Day rose 175% compared to the holiday period last year with Christmas Day the biggest day ever for Kindle book downloads.
Despite incredibly successful sales of Kindle devices and digital content over the holiday quarter, analysts and financial firms have noted that Amazon may still fall short of Q4 2011 earnings expectations. Heather Bellini, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, said that Amazon’s revenue may rise 38 percent from a year earlier to $17.9 billion. However, this figure is still less than the $18.2 billion average analyst estimate.
Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. in San Francisco, estimates that Amazon will sell 5 million to 6 million Kindle Fires in Q4 2011. While Amazon is losing money on every Kindle Fire it sells, the devices strongly encourage the ordering of e-books, videos and other digital content.
Amazon’s shared have declined 3.4 percent overall this year. As of December 30, 2011, shares have changed little at $173.44 in New York.