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Amazon Kindle Fire is eating into potential iPad sales

A survey reveals the Kindle Fire is putting plenty of people off buying an iPad 2, despite both having wildly different price tags.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
Joe Svetlik
2 min read

Amazon's Kindle Fire may be less than half the price of the cheapest iPad 2, but it's already eating into Apple's sales, according to a survey.

The survey reveals 26 per cent of customers polled who have either already pre-ordered the Fire or are "very likely" to buy have either delayed or put on indefinite hold their plans to buy an iPad 2. So yaboo sucks to you, Apple.

The survey was carried out by RBC Capital markets and ChangeWave Research, reports Mac Rumors. Five per cent of respondents have pre-ordered the Kindle Fire, or said they were "very likely" to do so. That compares to 4 per cent who said the same about the original iPad in a very similar survey back in 2010. This was when tablets were nowhere near as massive as they are now though, and there were only about three apps available.

The findings contradict some experts who said because of the massive difference in price, the Kindle Fire wouldn't impact on iPad sales.

Apple is typically brash about the Fire. Last week news emerged that two Cupertino top bods had said they weren't worried about the threat, saying because of its customised version of Android it'll look like another operating system altogether, confusing customers. This confusion will just push them towards Apple's 'more stable' iOS device.

Amazon has tweaked the Android operating system so it looks unlike any other tablet, and it's hoping developers will make apps specifically for it due to the massive interest sparked by its low price.

There's still no word on a UK release for the Fire, despite it being announced for the US back in September.

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