Amazon’s best-selling product is no longer available: The company announced today that its Kindle Fire tablet and e-book reader is no longer available. But eager Kindle fans only need to wait one week for the next Fire: My sources tell me that Amazon is set to release an amazing second-generation Fire that will reportedly “blow away” the Google Nexus 7, a similarly designed 7-inch tablet.
Amazon reports that the Kindle Fire has captured 22 percent of all tablet sales in the US in 2012. It has been the number one selling product on Amazon.com since its release last year, and the most successful product launch in the history of Amazon.com.
“Kindle Fire is sold out, but we have an exciting roadmap ahead,” Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said. “We will continue to offer our customers the best hardware, the best prices, the best customer service, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best content ecosystem.”
Oddly, Amazon never releases actual sales figures for its own products. And that’s been the case for the Kindle Fire throughout its year-long lifetime. But that 22 percent figure provides a clue, as does estimates from market researchers. IDC, for example, estimates that Amazon has sold almost 7 million units since its late 2011 debut.
The successor to the Kindle Fire will be announced at an event in New York next week, on September 6. Sources say to expect two models, a direct sequel with a 7-inch screen and a larger, iPad-killing version with a 10.1-inch screen. As a certified Amazon and Kindle fanatic, I’ll buy whatever they release, and review each device here on the SuperSite.