Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Amazon Kindle Smartphone to launch in 2014? - 3G.co.uk

 Amazon Kindle Fire HDX

Rumours have been circulating regarding the launch of an Amazon Kindle Smartphone for over a year already. In the intervening period Amazon’s range of Kindle Fire tablets have gone from strength to strength, with strong sales leading to an ever-expanding range.

Therefore, it’s no surprise to see fresh information surfacing about the potential launch of the Kindle Smartphone. Apparently, the retail giant will launch their first smartphone in the middle of next year (June 2014 to be precise).

At least that’s according to Digitimes who claim that Primax Electronic have received orders from Amazon for camera modules to be used in the smartphone. Apparently, Amazon’s smartphone will have 6 compact camera modules (CCM). Yep you’ve read that right 6 cameras, but why?

Well, it’ll have standard front and rear-facing cameras but is also rumoured to have four front-facing cameras which are used for 3D rendering and motion control. So you won’t even need to touch the screen to control the smartphone and it could have similar features to Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect sensor.

Apparently, the Amazon Kindle Smartphone is being made in conjunction with HTC – so the omens look good. But everything is currently rather speculative and shrouded in mystery.

As soon as 3G hear more about the Amazon Smartphone you’ll be the first to know.

Source (Subscription)


By Simon Thomas on 31st December, 2013

Tags: Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Smartphone

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By Simon Thomas on 31st December, 2013

Kindle Paperwhite - best e-book reader - Boing Boing

Audiovox mobile TV to support Kindle Fire - Rapid tv news

Show Special

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Editor | 31-12-2013

In a telling expansion of its business, Audiovox mobiletv, the Dyle-enabled wireless mobile TV receiver, has been made compatible with Kindle HD Fire tablets.

The new compatibility, made possible through a chipset from mobile TV pioneer Siano, complements existing iOS and Android smartphones and tablet availability for the free live TV service. Dyle comprises a joint venture of 12 major broadcast groups, available in 38 US markets, reaching 57% of the country.

Content delivered includes live broadcast TV such as local and national news, sports and entertainment programming to mobile devices. Audiovox mobiletv includes a programme guide, pause and rewind features, and an internal battery providing up to four hours of television viewing.

“The ability to add Amazon Kindle Fire users expands the growing list of consumers who want the live TV experience at their fingertips and provides our retail partners with another compelling reason to support the product,” explained Audiovox president Tom Malone. “We believe this development, combined with the continued addition of stations and markets, makes this a must-have product for consumers who want to enjoy their favourite programming across multiple screens while at home or on-the-go.”

“With the additional compatibility across Amazon Kindle HD Fire tablets, Dyle mobile TV technology will reach a new target audience that values ??a range of content on their mobile devices,” added Erik Moreno, co -general manager of Mobile Content Venture, the joint venture’s title.

Tags: united states audiovox mobile tv mobiletv dyle kindle fire tablet chipset siano ios android smartphone tablet free live broadcast content local national mobile content venture


Audiovox mobile TV to support Kindle Fire - Rapid tv news

Show Special

ces-logo

Editor | 31-12-2013

In a telling expansion of its business, Audiovox mobiletv, the Dyle-enabled wireless mobile TV receiver, has been made compatible with Kindle HD Fire tablets.

The new compatibility, made possible through a chipset from mobile TV pioneer Siano, complements existing iOS and Android smartphones and tablet availability for the free live TV service. Dyle comprises a joint venture of 12 major broadcast groups, available in 38 US markets, reaching 57% of the country.

Content delivered includes live broadcast TV such as local and national news, sports and entertainment programming to mobile devices. Audiovox mobiletv includes a programme guide, pause and rewind features, and an internal battery providing up to four hours of television viewing.

“The ability to add Amazon Kindle Fire users expands the growing list of consumers who want the live TV experience at their fingertips and provides our retail partners with another compelling reason to support the product,” explained Audiovox president Tom Malone. “We believe this development, combined with the continued addition of stations and markets, makes this a must-have product for consumers who want to enjoy their favourite programming across multiple screens while at home or on-the-go.”

“With the additional compatibility across Amazon Kindle HD Fire tablets, Dyle mobile TV technology will reach a new target audience that values ??a range of content on their mobile devices,” added Erik Moreno, co -general manager of Mobile Content Venture, the joint venture’s title.

Tags: united states audiovox mobile tv mobiletv dyle kindle fire tablet chipset siano ios android smartphone tablet free live broadcast content local national mobile content venture


Monday, December 30, 2013

Introducing The All-New Kindle Paperwhite-The 6th Generation Of Kindle - EFY Times (press release)

Monday, December 30, 2013 : Today, Amazon announced that the world’s best-selling e-reader-Kindle Paperwhite-is getting even better. The all-new Kindle Paperwhite features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle Paperwhite is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.com.

“Kindle is the best-selling e-reader in the world for six years running,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “No one is investing on behalf of readers or pushing the boundaries of hardware, software and content for readers like this team: the new Kindle Paperwhite has brand-new display technology, the next generation of our built-in light, a faster processor, plus all of the exclusive benefits of the Kindle ecosystem like Kindle MatchBook, Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, over 400,000 exclusive titles, Goodreads, Kindle Singles, Kindle Worlds, Kindle FreeTime, and much more. “

Kindle Paperwhite combines the best hardware, massive selection, lowest book prices, best reading features, best customer service, personalized recommendations, customer reviews, and more-into one seamlessly integrated service for customers. This is the reason Kindle owners read four times as many books-print and eBooks-as they do prior to owning a Kindle.

Here’s what makes the all-new Kindle Paperwhite better than ever:

New display technology with higher contrast-Kindle Paperwhite’s display is the most advanced e-reader display ever constructed. Higher contrast and better reflectivity means whites are whiter and blacks are blacker, so the pages are virtually indistinguishable from a physical book. You won’t find this level of contrast with any other e-reader display.

Next generation built-in light-Guides light toward the surface of the display so you can read comfortably without eyestrain.

New, 25% faster processor-Books open and pages turn faster for a seamless reading experience.

New touch technology-19% tighter touch grid makes Kindle Paperwhite respond even more accurately to the smallest touches .

New Kindle Page Flip-Skim page-by-page, scan by chapter, or skip to the end of your book, all without losing your place. For example, it’s now easy to quickly flip back and forth to that map of Beyond the Wall in A Dance With Dragons. See a screenshot: www.amazon.com / kindle-page-flip.

New Goodreads Integration-Combines the world’s largest e-reading community and the world’s largest community of book lovers. Join over 20 million other readers and see what your friends are reading, share highlights, and rate the books you read with Goodreads on Kindle, available exclusively from Amazon. See screenshots: www.amazon.com / kindle-goodreads.

New Kindle FreeTime-Built-in parental controls have been extended to give parents a simple, engaging way to encourage kids to spend more time reading. Hand-select books for your kids to read, and hand out achievement badges when they hit reading milestones. A progress report keeps parents updated on total time spent reading, number of words looked up, badges earned and books finished. See screenshots: www.amazon.com / new-kindle-freetime.

New Vocabulary Builder-Compiles words you look up in the dictionary into an easy-to-access list. Use these lists to quiz yourself with flashcards and instantly see words in context. See screenshots: www.amazon.com / kindle-vocabulary.

New Smart Lookup-Integrates a full dictionary definition with other reference information about a word, character, topic or book via X-Ray and Wikipedia. For example, using an ordinary dictionary to look up “credit default swaps” in Michael Lewis’ The Big Short would give the individual definitions of “credit,” “default” and “swaps.” Smart Lookup recognizes this is an important topic and phrase in the book, and gives you the correct definition of “credit default swaps” via X-Ray. See a screenshot: www.amazon.com / kindle-lookup.

New In-line Footnotes-With a single tap, read the complete text of each footnote in-line without changing the page or losing your place in the book. See a screenshot: www.amazon.com / kindle-footnotes.

New Kindle MatchBook-New benefit lets customers purchase Kindle editions of print books purchased from Amazon-past, present and future-for $ 2.99 or less .

The Goodreads and FreeTime features will be delivered later this year as part of a free software update.

Kindle Paperwhite still includes all of the features that helped make Kindle the best-selling e-reader in the world for six years running:

Reads like real paper-No-glare display for perfect reading, even in bright sunlight.

8 weeks of battery life-Read for weeks, not hours, on a single charge.

Weighs just 7.3 ounces-Hold comfortably in one hand for long reading sessions.

Built-in Wi-Fi and free 3G- Think of a book and be reading it in under 60 seconds.

Massive selection-Millions of books, newspapers and magazines, including the latest best sellers, Kindle Singles, and more.

Kindle exclusives-Over 400,000 books are exclusive to the Kindle Store.

Lowest book prices-Over a million titles are $ 4.99 or less, over 1.7 million are $ 9.99 or less.

Kindle Owners’ Lending Library-Prime members who own a Kindle can choose from hundreds of thousands of books to borrow for free, as frequently as a book a month, with no waiting and no due dates.

Carry over a thousand books-Never leave a favorite book behind.

No setup required-Kindle arrives pre-registered so you can start reading immediately.

Whispersync-Saves and synchronizes your last page read , bookmarks and annotations across all of your devices, so you can always pick up where you left off.

Worry-Free Archive-Automatically backs up your Kindle books in the cloud, so you never need to worry about losing your books-re-download your books wirelessly anytime for free.

X-Ray-Explore the “bones of a book”-see all of the passages across a book that mention relevant ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics of interest.

Time to Read-Tells you how much time it will take to finish a chapter or a book based on your personalized reading speed. See a screenshot: www.amazon.com / time-to-read.

Facebook and Twitter-Share book recommendations, highlighted sections and meaningful quotes with friends.

All of these features combine to make Kindle Paperwhite the best device, and the best service, for reading. Unlike tablets, Paperwhite reads like real paper even in bright sunlight, won’t tire your eyes in the dark, weighs just 7.3 ounces so you can read comfortably with one hand, and has a battery that lasts for weeks, not hours. That’s why many people buy both a tablet and a Paperwhite. Here’s what customers have to say:

“First of all, reading on a Kindle is a great experience-in my humble opinion it is much better than reading on a tablet or phone. There is something about the way the screen works that seems magical and you want to keep reading it. “- RA” Bob “

” Anyone who LOVES to read, should own a Paperwhite. I love my Kindle Fire, but I wanted to read outside in bright sunlight, so I decided to try the Paperwhite-it is wonderful, so easy to read, could not believe how easy to read. “- Connyane

“I have had this (Paperwhite) for around a month, and the battery lasts ages, it is very durable even without a cover, and has reduced my eyestrain from reading off of a tablet considerably. I did not realize how sore my tablet was making my eyes until I started reading with this. “- Mauro

” I already had a Kindle Fire that I loved but I bought this for my vacation because last year I could not read the Kindle Fire in the sun. This was better than I thought because it is super light, super easy to read. “- Helen

” The reading experience is much better than that from using a tablet or a smartphone … if you like to read a lot you definitely need a Kindle, and the best one available is the Paperwhite. “-Gonzalo

” Sure, you can get LCD based readers like the Kindle Fire or iPad, but when it comes to crisp reading on a light device with long battery life, this is the one you have got to get. “- Jagadeesh

” I use tablets for everything but reading books. For that I vastly prefer Kindles due to more natural experience, better portability and less eye strain. “- Klopus

” I have read off my husband’s iPad and it is not the same at all, my eyes get tired super-fast. But I can read my Kindle for 2 hours straight (and often do) with no eyestrain at all. “- Amf0001

” Reading on the Kindle Paperwhite is exponentially better than on a tablet. It is bliss to be able to enjoy an eBook while sipping an espresso outdoors in the afternoon and then just keep on reading through sunset till the moon rises. The e-ink screen, long battery life and relatively low price frees you to enjoy your books anywhere. It performs well under any lighting condition so I find myself just reading books all the time. “- Joseph

The new Kindle Paperwhite is only $ 119. Kindle Paperwhite is available for pre-order starting today at www.amazon.com and begins shipping September 30. The new top-of-the-line Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G is only $ 189. Customers can sign up to be notified when Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G is available for pre-order at www.amazon.com. Kindle Paperwhite Wi-Fi + 3G is expected to ship November 5.

For high resolution images and video of the new Kindle Paperwhite, visit www.amazon.com / pr / kindle.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

As usual, Amazon's Kindle blows away competition for tablet activations on ... - GeekWire

December 29, 2013 at 2:11 am

kindleflurry Amazon has typically seen its Kindle tablet sales spike during the holidays, and 2013 appears to be no different.

KindleFireHDX89Horizontal Mobile app analytics firm Flurry just released some holiday tablet sales numbers and noted that on Christmas, Amazon’s tablets were activated 24-times more often than a normal December day – a number much higher than the likes of Apple, Samsung or Acer.

This follows a recurring tendency for people to buy Kindles as gifts for family and friends. Many refer to Amazon’s device as the “fruitcake of tablets,” meaning that while you may not purchase one for yourself, you’d gladly gift it to others due to its popularity and low price.

The “24″ statistic is actually lower than previous years, which could signal that more people are actually buying a Kindle for themselves. In fact, my colleague Todd Bishop wrote earlier this month that it would be a shame not to consider the Kindle Fire for yourself after he spent some time with the product.

Amazon, which does not make profit on tablet sales, released the Kindle Fire HDX this fall and is marketing the tablet aggressively in advertising campaigns, using head-to-head comparisons with the iPad Air, and promoting the new “Mayday” customer service button – one that saw a response time of nine seconds during this holiday.

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Reach staff reporter Taylor Soper at taylor@geekwire.com or on Twitter @ Taylor_Soper . Follow us on Twitter @ GeekWire .

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Kindle Fire: Amazon boasts 9-second response time for Chrismas Day 'Mayday ... - Digital Trends

[DT's Kindle Fire HDX review]

When Amazon launched its new Kindle Fire HDX tablets a couple of months back, many were interested to see the company had included an on-device ‘Mayday’ customer support button.

With the e-commerce giant all too aware of how frustrating such services can be – with endless button pressing and long waits – it wanted to get its Mayday offering right, promising a caller would be connected with a tech advisor within seconds of tapping the button.

On Christmas Day, a time when many were switching on a Kindle Fire for the very first time and therefore possibly experiencing a few issues with its operation, Amazon said it took an average of just nine seconds to respond to Mayday calls, easily beating its usual target time.

“We set a goal for ourselves to have a response time of 15 seconds or less when a customer tapped the Mayday button – we’re proud to say that on Christmas Day we met this goal, with an average response time of just 9 seconds, “Amazon’s Dave Limp said in a release, adding,” We’re excited that millions of customers opened a Kindle Fire tablet this holiday season, and we’re glad so many customers tried out the Mayday button. “

Although it’s likely many members of Amazon’s tech support team would rather have been doing something more festive on Christmas Day, no doubt new Kindle Fire HDX owners were delighted to have had their queries dealt with in such a speedy fashion.

The free Mayday service is available to HDX users 24/7 and involves a video chat with an Amazon tech advisor. Whether you have an issue with the tablet’s functions, or want to learn more about its features, the advisor can help. If things get tricky, they can draw on your screen to help with their explanation, or even take control of the device if you give them permission.

According to Amazon, not all of the Christmas Day callers required tech support. A group of carolers contacted Amazon’s advisors to sing thanks for their work, while one young girl simply screamed when an advisor popped up on the screen, having apparently hit the Mayday button by accident.

[DT tips on ways to improve your Kindle Fire HDX]

DT

Trevor Mogg

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan). As far as electronics are concerned, he’s in the right place, with the East Asian country continuing to produce a plethora of gadgets and gizmos for tech addicts around the world. When not writing for Digital Trends, Trevor can be found out and about taking far too many photos, or in front of his computer trying to sort them all out.

In Case You Missed It

  • Amazon’s new Kindle Fire comes with a Genius Bar inside it (and a lot more)
  • Ad supported: All of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablets come with Special Offers
  • iPad sales dented more by iPhone 4S than Kindle Fire, says research firm
  • China introduces a communist tablet: the Red Pad

Kindle Fire: Amazon boasts 9-second response time for Chrismas Day 'Mayday ... - Digital Trends

[DT's Kindle Fire HDX review]

When Amazon launched its new Kindle Fire HDX tablets a couple of months back, many were interested to see the company had included an on-device ‘Mayday’ customer support button.

With the e-commerce giant all too aware of how frustrating such services can be – with endless button pressing and long waits – it wanted to get its Mayday offering right, promising a caller would be connected with a tech advisor within seconds of tapping the button.

On Christmas Day, a time when many were switching on a Kindle Fire for the very first time and therefore possibly experiencing a few issues with its operation, Amazon said it took an average of just nine seconds to respond to Mayday calls, easily beating its usual target time.

“We set a goal for ourselves to have a response time of 15 seconds or less when a customer tapped the Mayday button – we’re proud to say that on Christmas Day we met this goal, with an average response time of just 9 seconds, “Amazon’s Dave Limp said in a release, adding,” We’re excited that millions of customers opened a Kindle Fire tablet this holiday season, and we’re glad so many customers tried out the Mayday button. “

Although it’s likely many members of Amazon’s tech support team would rather have been doing something more festive on Christmas Day, no doubt new Kindle Fire HDX owners were delighted to have had their queries dealt with in such a speedy fashion.

The free Mayday service is available to HDX users 24/7 and involves a video chat with an Amazon tech advisor. Whether you have an issue with the tablet’s functions, or want to learn more about its features, the advisor can help. If things get tricky, they can draw on your screen to help with their explanation, or even take control of the device if you give them permission.

According to Amazon, not all of the Christmas Day callers required tech support. A group of carolers contacted Amazon’s advisors to sing thanks for their work, while one young girl simply screamed when an advisor popped up on the screen, having apparently hit the Mayday button by accident.

[DT tips on ways to improve your Kindle Fire HDX]

DT

Trevor Mogg

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan). As far as electronics are concerned, he’s in the right place, with the East Asian country continuing to produce a plethora of gadgets and gizmos for tech addicts around the world. When not writing for Digital Trends, Trevor can be found out and about taking far too many photos, or in front of his computer trying to sort them all out.

In Case You Missed It

  • Amazon’s new Kindle Fire comes with a Genius Bar inside it (and a lot more)
  • Ad supported: All of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablets come with Special Offers
  • iPad sales dented more by iPhone 4S than Kindle Fire, says research firm
  • China introduces a communist tablet: the Red Pad

This Lego Robot Kills The DRM Protection In Your Kindle E-Books - Business Insider

            

DRM, or digital rights management, is the stuff that limits a consumer’s capabilities with his or her purchased digital media. It’s what curbs the iTunes music you buy to your own use specifically. It prevents you from sharing your paid-for Kindle books with others.

Peter Purgathoffer, an associate professor at the Vienna University of Technology, built a Lego robot that squashes Kindle e-book DRM, we learn via Boing Boing.

The robot works by repeatedly pressing the “next page” button on a Kindle, then snapping a picture of the new page with a laptop’s webcam. Captured pictures are saved to a folder where they are automatically treated with a process called OCR – optical character recognition – which digitizes the text and turns it into a completely DRM-free e-book.

The best part of this little robotic creation is that because it’s engaging in a transformative act (and is obviously for one’s own personal use), it’s legal.

DIY kindle scanner from peter purgathofer on Vimeo.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

            

Friday, December 27, 2013

Amazon Kindle Activations Trump Competitors on Christmas Day - TechnoBuffalo

By | December 27, 2013

Kindle Fire HDX, Back Wide

According to new research data from Flurry Analytics, activations of new Kindle devices far exceeded the numbers it saw earlier in the month, showing that Kindle devices are particularly hot sellers during the holidays for Amazon.

Flurry found that, overall, there was a 63 percent bump in device activations on Christmas day compared to any other day during the first three weeks of December. Kindle activations were up 24x a regular day in December, while activations for Apple, Samsung, and Acer tablets were up just a hair.

“For the past three years, Amazon has been the brand of device that has experienced the largest bump in Christmas activations compared to its normal level of activations,” Flurry Analytics said. “We believe price, business model, target market, and form factor all contribute to the big boost in Kindle activations at Christmas relative to other times of the year.”

KINDLE Final1-resized-600

Acer, which also saw a greater bump than Samsung and Apple, likely saw success because of its low price points, Flurry explained. Samsung and Apple’s activations weren’t up as much because “their baseline level of activations is so large that even a doubling of daily activations on Christmas (1.9x for samsung and 2.3x for Apple this year) represents a large number of devices,” Flurry explained. In other words, Apple and Samsung tablets are always selling tons of tablets, so it’s nearly impossible for their figures to bump as much as Amazon’s.

Despite the bump for everyone on Christmas day, Flurry Analytics says that this year’s increase doesn’t compare to previous years. Amazon’s activations were up 24x in 2013, but in 2011 activations increased by 41x.

Amazon Kindle Activations Trump Competitors on Christmas Day - TechnoBuffalo

By | December 27, 2013

Kindle Fire HDX, Back Wide

According to new research data from Flurry Analytics, activations of new Kindle devices far exceeded the numbers it saw earlier in the month, showing that Kindle devices are particularly hot sellers during the holidays for Amazon.

Flurry found that, overall, there was a 63 percent bump in device activations on Christmas day compared to any other day during the first three weeks of December. Kindle activations were up 24x a regular day in December, while activations for Apple, Samsung, and Acer tablets were up just a hair.

“For the past three years, Amazon has been the brand of device that has experienced the largest bump in Christmas activations compared to its normal level of activations,” Flurry Analytics said. “We believe price, business model, target market, and form factor all contribute to the big boost in Kindle activations at Christmas relative to other times of the year.”

KINDLE Final1-resized-600

Acer, which also saw a greater bump than Samsung and Apple, likely saw success because of its low price points, Flurry explained. Samsung and Apple’s activations weren’t up as much because “their baseline level of activations is so large that even a doubling of daily activations on Christmas (1.9x for samsung and 2.3x for Apple this year) represents a large number of devices,” Flurry explained. In other words, Apple and Samsung tablets are always selling tons of tablets, so it’s nearly impossible for their figures to bump as much as Amazon’s.

Despite the bump for everyone on Christmas day, Flurry Analytics says that this year’s increase doesn’t compare to previous years. Amazon’s activations were up 24x in 2013, but in 2011 activations increased by 41x.

Amazon Kindle gets boost from Christmas giving - Yahoo! 7 News

Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle got the biggest bump in device activations on Christmas Day, according to data from Flurry Analytics.

Flurry, which tracks 400,000 apps on more than 1.2 billion mobile devices, compared new device activations on Christmas to what the average number for the first three weeks in December and Amazon’s devices came out on top, again.

Christmas Day is always a big day for smartphone and tablet activations for major brands, but Amazon’s devices have seen the biggest jump in activations for the last three Christmases, according to Flurry Analytics.

Devices made by Acer received the next biggest bump on Christmas, followed by Apple (AAPL) and Samsung (Korea Stock Exchange: 593-KR).

The success of Amazon’s Kindle may stem from its low price. The company sells the mobile devices at cost and makes money by using them as tools to sell digital content and other products.

( Read more : Amazon limited new Prime memberships amid order surge)

Flurry Analytics notes that the new Mayday feature on the Kindle Fire HDX also may have contributed to the device’s activation total. The feature allows someone to get help from a customer service representative, making it easier for first-time users to activate the device.

It’s worth noting though, that as the mobile device market is maturing, most of the manufacturers are seeing a steady decline in the boost from Christmas Day activations.

By CNBC’s Cadie Thompson. Follow her on Twitter @ CadieThompson .

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Also Read

More Proof That The Kindle Fire Is The Fruitcake Of Tablets - Business Insider

            

We here at Business Insider have a theory about Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

The theory is that people buy the Kindle Fire for other people, but would never buy it for themselves. That’s why we call the Fire the “fruitcake” of tablets. You wouldn’t buy a fruitcake for yourself, but you’ll get for others at the holidays.

We saw this anecdotally in the first year of the Kindle Fire’s existence.

It was (and remains) a super cheap tablet, so it’s not too expensive to give one as a present. You can buy a Kindle Fire HD for just $ 139. At that price you don’t have to spend a lot of money to seem like a thoughtful, generous person.

But, if you were in the market for a tablet for yourself, odds are you’d go with an iPad because it has better applications, and a more robust ecosystem.

The Fire is a good tablet, and it’s improving all the time, it’s just not as good at the iPad right now.

Today we have more proof that the Kindle Fire is the fruitcake of tablets – hot holiday item that might not be so hot the rest of the year.

Flurry, which measures mobile application analytics, says the Kindle Fire activations were up 24X on Christmas day versus a normal December day. (This is actually down compared to years past.)

What does this mean? It means that a lot of people are activating Fires they got as a Christmas present. It also suggests that the rest of the month, when people are shopping for themselves, they don’t buy Fires.

This isn’t exactly the end of the world, but it suggests Amazon needs to get the Kindle Fire to be good enough that everyone wants to buy it at any time of the year.

chart of the day kindle fire activations

Business Insider

P.S. Amazon gets pummeled in the press for putting out press releases with vague numbers in them that don’t really tell a full story. What’s funny about this Flurry release is that an outside company is doing it for Amazon! This chart really doesn’t mean much. What if on an average day people activate 1 Kindle Fire? Then on Christmas day, 24 Fires were activated.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.