Declining tablet sales are a fact of life. IDC reported in February that fourth-quarter sales were down nearly 14% year over year to about 69.5 million units worldwide. The pressure has been coming from large-screen smartphones (phablets) and, increasingly, detachable devices like the Microsoft Surface. Shipments for detachable tablets reached an all-time high of 8.1 million devices in 2015 while global shipments for the year totaled 206.8 million, down 10.1% from 230.1 million in 2014.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) had some success with its Kindle Fire tablets, but IDC noted that the company’s success to date has been “purely based on price.” Amazon grabbed nearly 8% market share (3rd place) in the fourth quarter with shipments of 5.2 million units, a year-over-year increase of about 175%. But it did not even make the top 5 in annual shipments, where the fifth-ranked seller, Huawei, sold 6.5 million units.
It’s no surprise then that Amazon is promoting its tablets and the Kids edition 7-inch version with WiFi and 8GB of memory is a good place to start. The company is offering a discount of 20% off the regular price of $99.99 for the tablet. The package includes the Kid-Proof case, 1-year free access to Amazon FreeTime, and a 2-year warranty against any kind of damage. If the kid breaks it, send it back. The offer is good for an unspecified limited time.
A Kindle for Kids bundle that includes the Kindle reader with the 2-year warranty included and a “kid-friendly” blue cover for $89.99, a savings of $$49.98 (36%) from the price of the kit if the pieces were sold separately. The regular price of the bundle is $99.99, so most of the savings have already been included. But 10% from the regular bundle price is nothing to sneeze at.
Finally, a Fire HD with a 6-inch display, WiFi, 8GB of memory, and a green cover is on sale for $99.99, a savings of $50.00 (33%) from the regular price. The 2-year warranty is included and so is the 1-year unlimited access to FreeTime.
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