Amazon will announce fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday on the heels of what analysts called stronger-than-expected fourth quarter Kindle Fire tablet sales.
Amazon sold 6 million of the $199 Kindle Fire in the fourth quarter, a Stifel Nicolaus analyst said in a recent note after earlier predicting 5 million Kindle Fire sales for the period. Recently, a Barclays analyst upped his estimate for the quarter to 5.5 million units sold, a million more than the initial prediction for the period.
Amazon has not historically announced sales for a specific device, and is not likely to do so tomorrow. Apple last week said it had sold 15.4 million iPad tablets in the last quarter, more than double the number it sold for the same period in 2010. The iPad starts at $499.
Strategy Analytics last week said all kinds of Android tablets, including the Kindle Fire and a variety of Galaxy Tablets from Samsung, sold 10.5 million units in the fourth quarter, garnering almost 39.1% of the tablet market. That compares to Apple's share of nearly 58%.
Tablet details
|
Tablet |
Mfr. |
OS |
Screen size |
Internet connectivity |
3G/4G carrier |
Storage |
Weight |
Processor |
Start price ($US) |
Ship date/est. ship date |
Notes |
|
Acer |
MeeGo |
10 in. |
Intel Atom |
12/01/11 |
Part of Acer's Iconia "M Series." Shipping end of 2011. | ||||||
| Nook tablet | Barnes & Noble | Android | 7 in. | Wi-Fi |
16GB built-in; MicroSD slot for up to 32GB |
0.8 lb. |
1GHz TI OMAP4 dual-core processor |
249 |
11/18/11 |
Running 2.3 (Gingerbread) | |
| Kindle Fire | Amazon | Android | 7 in. | Wi-Fi | 8GB | 0.91 lb. | 1GHz dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP | 199 | 11/15/11 | No camera or mic; free cloud backup | |
| Latitude ST business tablet | Dell | Windows 7 | 10.1 in. |
Wi-Fi, 3G optional |
128GB | 1.8 lbs. | 11/01/11 | ||||
| Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus | Samsung | Android | 7 in. | HSPA+, HSPA, EDGE, GPRS and Wi-Fi | Unknown |
16GB or 32GB |
0.75 lb. | 1.2 GHz dual-core processors | 10/30/11 | Available in Indonesia, Austria, in late October, then gradual rollout in other countries, including U.S. | |
| IdeaPad | Lenovo | Android | 7 in. | up to 32G internal; MicroSD and micro USB slots | 0.88 lb. | ARM single-core Cortex-A8 | 199 | 9/30/11 | |||
| ThinkPad Tablet | Lenovo | Android | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi | 16GB | 1.65 lbs. | Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processors | 479 | 8/31/11 | Available in August; Model with digitizer touch pen is $509; 3G version coming later | |
| Iconia Tab A100 | Acer | Android | 7 in. | 0.9 lb. | Dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 | 329 | 8/12/11 | Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) | |||
| IdeaPad Tablet K1 | Lenovo | Android | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi | 32GB | 1.65 lbs. | Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processors | 500 | 8/11/11 | Available in U.S. sometime in August 2011; outside U.S. later in the year | |
| Cius | Cisco | Android | 7 in. | Wi-Fi/3G/4G | Verizon | 32GB + microSD | 1.5 lbs. | 1.2GHz Intel Atom Z615 | 705 | 7/31/11 | Runs older Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS; will be updated to 3.0 Honeycomb but unclear when |
| WindPad Enjoy 7 | MSI | Android | 7 in. | Wi-Fi | 4GB + microSD | 0.87 lb. | 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A8 | 199 | 7/29/11 | Running 2.3 Gingerbread | |
| WindPad Enjoy 10 | MSI | Android | 10 in. | Wi-Fi | 4GB + microSD | 1.7 lbs. | 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A8 | 299 | 7/29/11 | Running 2.3 Gingerbread | |
| Thrive | Toshiba | Android | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi | 8GB, 16GB or 32GB | 1.6 lbs. | 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 | 429 | 7/10/11 | Runs Android 3.1 Honeycomb; has removable battery pack | |
| TouchPad | HP | webOS | 9.7 in. | Wi-Fi | 16GB or 32GB | 1.6 lbs. | 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon | 500 | 7/1/11 | AT&T 3G version due this summer | |
| Galaxy Tab 10.1-in. | Samsung | Android | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi | 16GB or 32GB | 1GHz dual-core | 599 | 6/8/11 | Includes enterprise mobile mgmt. software | ||
| Stylistic Q550 Slate PC | Fujitsu | Windows 7 | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi | 30GB or 62GB | 1.7 lbs. | 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 (Oak Trail) | 729 | 6/1/11 | ||
| BlackBerry PlayBook | RIM | BlackBerry | 7 in. | Wi-Fi | 16GB, 32GB or 64GB | 0.9 lb. | 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 | 499 | 4/19/11 | 3G/4G connectivity from Sprint, Verizon & AT&T promised for summer | |
| iPad 2 | Apple | iOS | 9.7 in. | Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi/3G | AT&T, Verizon | 16GB, 32GB or 64GB | 1.33 lbs. | 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 | 499 | 3/11/11 | |
| Xoom | Motorola | Android | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi/3G | Verizon | 32GB + microSD | 1.56 lbs. | 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 | 600 | 2/24/11 | First tablet to run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS |
| Archos 70 Internet Tablet | Archos | Android | 7 in. | Wi-Fi | 8GB or 250GB | 0.71 lb. | 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 | 300 | 12/29/10 | Runs older Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS | |
| Archos 101 Internet Tablet | Archos | Android | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi | 16GB | 1.15 lbs. | 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 | 350 | 11/22/10 | Runs older Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS | |
| Galaxy Tab 7-in. | Samsung | Android | 7 in. | Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi/3G |
AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon |
16GB + microSD | 0.88 lb. | 1GHz single-core Cortex-A8 | 359 | 11/15/10 | Runs older Android 2.2 (Froyo) OS |
| Slate 500 | HP | Windows 7 | 8.9 in. | Wi-Fi | 64GB | 1.5 lbs. | 1.68GHz single-core Intel Atom Z540 | 799 | 10/21/10 | ||
| Galaxy Tab 8.9-in. | Samsung | Android | 8.9 in. | Wi-Fi | 16GB or 32GB | 1.04 lbs. | 1GHz dual-core | 469 | Est. to ship early summer 2011. Includes enterprise mobile mgmt. software | ||
| MediaPad | Huawei | Android | 7 in. | 0.86 lbs. | 1.2Ghz dual-core Qualcomm | Shipping in U.S. in Q4 2011, running Android 3.2 | |||||
| HP 4G TouchPad | HP | webOS | Wi-Fi/4G | AT&T | 32GB | 1.5GHz Snapdragon QSD8672 | |||||
| Eee Pad Transformer Prime | Asus | Android | 10 in. | 32GB or 64GB |
1.29 lbs. |
Nvidia quad-core Tegra 3 | Will ship with Android 3.2, but will upgrade to Android 4.0. Will ship sometime in December. | ||||
| WindPad 100A | MSI | Android | 10 in. | Wi-Fi | up to 32GB | 1.6 lbs. | Dual-core ARM | 1GB RAM | |||
| WindPad 110W | MSI | Windows 7 | Wi-Fi | up to 64GB | 1.87 lbs. | AMD Fusion | 2GB RAM | ||||
| ViewPad 10Pro | ViewSonic | Windows 7, Android | 10 in. | 30GB or 62GB | 1.76 lbs. | Atom Z670 (Oak Trail) | 699 | On sale in Taiwan in June | |||
| ViewPad 7x | ViewSonic | Android | 7 in. | 0.84 lb. | Shipping in July in Taiwan | ||||||
| Padfone | Asus | Android | Combination phone and tablet. No word on ship date. | ||||||||
| AT200 | Toshiba | Android | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi | microSD cards, micro-USB port | 1.2 lbs. | dual-core 1.2GHz | 0.3-in thick, shipping in Q4 | |||
| Note | Samsung | Android | 5.3 in. | LET, HSPA+, NFC | 16G or 32G | 0.39 lb. | dual-core 1.4GHZ | Users can write on Super Amoled screen with digital S pen. Has 1G RAM, 8M HD camera | |||
| Galaxy Tab 7.7 | Samsung | Android | 7.7 in. | LTE, GSPA | 0.74 lb. | dual-core 1.4GHz | Super Amoled screen | ||||
| IdeaPad Tablet P1 | Lenovo | Windows 7 | 10.1 in. | Wi-Fi | Not given | 1.75 lbs. | 1.5GHz Intel chip | Pricing not announced; available in Q4 | |||
| Slate 2 | HP | Windows 7 | 8.9 in. | Wi-Fi | 32GB | 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 | 699 | ||||
| Tablet S and Tablet P | Sony | Android | 9.4 in. for S1, dual 5.5-in. screens for S2 | Wi-Fi and 3G | 16G or 32G | 372 to 625 grams | 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 | Wi-Fi only shipping in Europe in Sept.; 3G in November; 20.6mm thick | |||
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.
