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Pricier Kindle Fire orders outstrip other models

The Kindle Fire appears to be a certifiable hit with preorders that exceeded orders for the other three Kindle models combined.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers

The Kindle Fire outsold the other three new Kindles combined despite the higher price for the Fire, according to a market research firm.

Kindle Fire sales hit an estimated 95,000 units in the first day of sales, according to eDataSource, a marketing research firm that tracks orders via e-mail confirmations of orders placed. The projected numbers are based solely on orders placed with Amazon's Web site, according to Carter Nicholas, CEO of eDataSource, which released the report on Friday. eDataSource tracks 800,000 inboxes, according to Nicholas.

Kindle Fire: preorders on day one exceeded the orders for the three other new Kindle models combined.
Kindle Fire: preorders on day one exceeded the orders for the three other new Kindle models combined. Amazon

The Kindle Fire launched last week at $199 and was made available for preorder immediately on the Amazon Web site. Shipments will start in November.

Along with the Fire, Amazon announced three other new Kindles, with prices of $79 for the new Kindle, $99 for the new Kindle Touch, and $149 for the Kindle Touch 3G. But those models combined still did not outsell the Fire, according to eDataSource, which estimates that sales of the other new Kindle units totaled approximately 25,000 units during the same period.

Alas, the Fire and the other Kindles can't hold a candle to sales of the original iPad. Apple reported that 300,000 were sold on the first date of sales in April 2010.