Amazon sold 6m Kindle Fire tablets, says analyst

How many Kindle Fires did Amazon ship during the last few months of 2011? The online retailer isn't saying, but ask Jordan Rohan, analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, a broker, and he'll put the figure at 6m units.

No wonder Google is said to be worried about it.

Amazon is expected to reveal the actual number of Kindle Fires it sold in the quarter when it posts its Q4 FY2011 results tomorrow.

The bullish Rohan, who reckons Amazon has calculated how much extra it will make on content sales by pricing the Fire at a loss-making but punter-pulling $199, reckons the tablet will become the "third ecosystem" alongside Apple's iPad-iTunes combo and the less content-focused Android platform.

If stats from app analysis company Flurry are taken at face value, the Fire has already become the leading alternative to the iPad as far as app usage goes, having nudged past Samsung in the two months or so since the Amazon tablet began shipping on 15 November 2011.

Rohan previously forecast Kindle Fire sales an 5m units.

"The Kindle Fire has staked out an important market position due to its loyal Amazon customer base and attractive (low) device pricing," Rohan told investors. This, he believes has "broader implications" for the tablet market than most other observers appreciate. ®