Amazon launches global offensive with its Kindle Fire tablet in 170 countries - Chile Metro

class=”date-text”> Updated: Yesterday 13:25 h.

– Posted: Yesterday 12:21 h.

AFP

class=”c3″> The retail giant Amazon on Thursday launched an offensive in the global market for tablets, especially betting on emerging from seven to 170 the number of countries where it sells the Kindle Fire .

This device, whose base price in the U.S. market is $ 159, was distributed so far in the major developed markets besides the United States: Japan and five European countries (France, UK, Germany, Italy and Spain), Amazon spokesman said.

Amazon

began Thursday to receive online pre-orders, and deliveries will begin on June 13, said in a statement.

also announced that its online store, Amazon Appstore, which offers games and applications for download on the Kindle Fire will be available in about 200 countries. So far, the Appstore had been available in the U.S. as well, in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, China and Japan, and was scheduled for release in Brazil.

store sells apps for the Kindle Fire, but also for personal computers and mobile and other devices like the Amazon tablet, use the Android operating system.

Kindle Fire

first went on sale in the U.S. in late 2011. Since then, the range has been extended with two models of HD display: a 7-inch (17.8 inches diagonal), as the Kindle Fire original, and a larger (8.9 inches, 22.6 inches ).

The device integrates

small tablets, especially due to its lower price, are increasingly popular with consumers and put pressure on the market leader, the Apple iPad class=”c4″> . So much so that class=”c4″> last year launched a version of “mini” from his best-selling book (7.9 inches or 20.1 inches, with 9.7 inches, 24, 6 centimeters, classic iPad).

Diversification strategy

Amazon says that of all the categories of products, the Kindle Fire is the most purchased item in their online stores. However, it revealed its sales figures.

According to estimates by research firm IDC, the Kindle Fire has been particularly successful during the holiday season: Amazon rose in the fourth quarter of 2012 to third in the world behind Apple class=”c4″> and South Korea’s Samsung, with six million units sold and a market share of 11.5%.

sales fell in the first quarter 2013 to 1.8 million units, 3.7% of the world market, placing Amazon in fourth place behind Apple class=”c4″> (39.6%), Samsung (17.9%) and Taiwan’s Asus, which makes the Google Nexus 7 (5.5%), according to IDC.

The Kindle Fire is at the heart of the Amazon diversification strategy, which started as online bookstore, but is increasingly present in electronic devices (in addition to the tablets, there are rumors smartphones projects), digital content, e-books, music or video games, and internet services.

“Kindle devices are sold at a loss, but records Amazon.com attractive margins on sales of digital content,” said Morgan Stanley in a note, adding that the device can lead to improved sales and profitability the company.

At a time when the group is betting on emerging countries, “Kindle brand is an effective way to enter a market and attract consumers on Amazon.com ecosystem,” the bank.