Kindle Fire Holiday Sales Cost Apple ‘At Most’ 1-2M iPad Sales

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Photo by the queen of subtle - http://flic.kr/p/aUoy8X
Photo by the queen of subtle - http://flic.kr/p/aUoy8X

In the highly-competitive holiday sales period, Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet ‘at most’ cost Apple 1 million to 2 million iPad sales, one Wall Street observer said today. Despite the dent in sales, the tech giant is expected to turn in record iPad sales figures for this quarter.


“Based on data from Amazon, we believe the Amazon Fire likely sold 4-5 million units in the holiday season,” Morgan Keenan analyst Travis McCourt told investors. That means “maybe 1-2 million cannibalized iPad sales at most.” As we reported, Amazon announced sales figures of 1 million “Kindle devices” per week in December. By comparison, Apple sold 4.2 million iOS devices (iPads, iPhones and iPod touches) on Christmas Day, alone.

McCourt believes some lost iPad holiday sales were enough that the tablet will comprise slightly less of Apple’s forecast overall revenue. The analyst sees the iPad comprising 21.3 percent of December revenue. While more than the 17.2 percent from a year ago, his estimate is less than the 24.3 percent from September’s blowout quarter.

The analyst also increased his projection for iPhone sales during the holiday quarter to 29 million units, up from 27 million. As a result, the handset will comprise 47.5 percent of Apple’s overall December quarter revenue, up from 39.1 percent a year ago and 38.8 percent in September.

However, the analyst lowered his estimates for Mac sales during the holiday period, predicting 4.8 million unit sales, down from 4.9 million. The forecast is lower than the September quarter, when the tech giant reported selling 4.9 million Macs. Traditionally, Mac December sales have been larger than the previous September.

Although his prediction is lower, McCourt sees Apple’s 4.8 million units sales for the holidays performing higher than a relatively flat PC market.

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