The Kindle Fire is holding a distant second… but a SOLID one, according to the most unscientific polling system imaginable: Twitter search.
This poll was conducted by searching Twitter for “First tweet on [fill-in-the-blank tablet]” on Christmas Eve and then counting how many tweets showed up. I told you it wasn’t scientific…
Still, the results of this are super important for reasons I’ll get into in a moment. First things first, the results:
- 1,795 tweets from iPad
- 250 Amazon Kindle
- 100 Google Nexus
- 36 Microsoft Surface
It’s no surprise that the iPad is still destroying the competition, even in a tablet world where there is some respectable competition out there. It’s also not surprising that the overpriced Surface is struggling to gain market share.
What was a bit of a revelation is that the Fire more than doubled the Nexus 7 in this, once again, very unscientific poll. Is the Kindle Fire emerging from the Christmas season as the iPad’s number one competitor?
As a marketer, you know darned well that science isn’t everything. That frequently the best product doesn’t equate to the most valuable brand…
Markets are driven by demand, and demand is driven by a ton of factors that are mostly emotional and non-scientific. That’s why I’m going to make the argument that this Twitter tablet polling data is extremely relevant.
Why? The device world isn’t simply all about capturing the most users… it’s about capturing the most-connected users. The people who live on their devices, make purchases, watch videos… and users that have active Twitter accounts.
Over the past few years, the vast majority of these users have fallen Apple’s way. That’s why iTunes’ revenues are still 4X higher than Google Play’s, despite the fact that Android has about 3X the mobile market share.
The Kindle Fire does operate on an Android framework, but it comes with Amazon as the device’s integrated marketplace — not Google Play.
If the Kindle Fire does become the primary competition, that means that Amazon may have a fighting chance at becoming a major player in the app space.
What do you think? Will Amazon ever be an app powerhouse?
Josh is the managing editor of Digital Marketer, as well an aspiring novelist. Find out more about what Josh is working on on 
1 comment
Without a doubt in my mind, I believe you have nailed the trend. I wanted an iPad in the worst kind of way. Then I talked with my daughter (sells electronics for BBuy). She was clear that iPad still sells, but smart folks are buying Kindle's as a better value for the money. I now am turning in my Nook and heading for Kindle.