Kindle Fire dominates Android tablet market despite limited worldwide availability

29 Jan 2013

Amazon's Kindle Fire HD

New figures from an analytics and in-app marketing solution looking at Android tablet share worldwide finds that more than half of tablet usage is coming out of the US, where Amazon’s Kindle Fire family is streaks ahead as the device of choice.

Localytics tracks tablet usage through apps that have its analytics technology installed, which accounts for more than 500m unique devices.

Based on Localytics’ findings, 59pc of all Android tablets call the US home, and one-third of these are Amazon Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD devices.

Outside of the US, the picture is very much the opposite as Amazon has yet to truly expand its Kindle Fire offerings globally. Of all Kindle Fire devices recorded by Localytics, 89pc were from the US and most of the remainder from the UK, while other countries didn’t even reach 1pc of the market share.

Global Android Tablet Share (Source: Localytics)

Amazon is said to be working hard on expanding its content licensing to more markets worldwide and, once that is secured, the Kindle Fire devices are expected to follow. If Amazon can pull it off, it’s likely that its low-cost tablet could quickly become Android’s biggest seller.

On the back of this, Localytics notes the importance for app developers to get their apps in the Amazon App Store. Google Play is not available on the Kindle Fire, making Amazon’s own variant a key distribution channel for capturing this massive market.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com