Amazon sold 6m Kindle Fires in Q4 2011, analyst claims

Most people seem to agree that Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet has done reasonably well since launching in the US in the autumn, but so far we haven't seen anyone put an actual figure on it.

Well, one analyst willing to put his head on the block is Stifel Nicolas' Jordan Rohan, who reckons Amazon shifted six million of its cut-price slates in Q4 of last year.

That's not bad considering this time last year there was no Kindle Fire, no Amazon App store and pretty much no hint at all that Amazon was even interested in the mobile market – though considering the form factor similarities between e-readers and tablets, it seems fairly logical in hindsight.

Anyway, 12 months down the line and the Kindle Fire has shot from nowhere to become the best-selling Android tablet around, mainly thanks to its loss-making $199 price-tag. Like the Kindle e-reader, Amazon is subsidising the hardware side of things to sell more units and make increased profits on the software side - Rohan's estimate is that app sales turn a $10 loss per unit into a $10 profit.

Annoyingly, however, Amazon is following the strongly US-led roll out pattern that has frustrated us international types with the Kindle over the years.

There's still no hint of an international roll out for the Kindle Fire, and while the good and the great of the mobile world are gearing up for Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of Feb, if Amazon's planning on being there it's doing a good job of keeping it quiet.

Why the delay? It's a complication of that same basic business model that sets the Kindle Fire price tag so low, as Amazon needs guaranteed sales through its App store to offset the loss it's making on the tablet itself, and with each market presenting a different proposition on that front, getting the sums right is a complex process.

Posted in: Amazon,Kindle Fire,Report,Sales