Amazon to become No.2 player in tablet market

Online retail giant Amazon is poised to become the No. 2 player in the tablet computer market behind Apple, thanks to strong demand for its newly launched Kindle Fire, said a new survey released on Monday. According to survey results by research firm ChangeWave Research, about 65 percent of buyers are planning to purchase an Apple iPad in the future, an indication of Apple's enormous strength in the market. Meanwhile, 22 percent of the respondents said they would choose a Kindle Fire, the survey found. It was the first time since the launch of the original iPad that "there is a double-digit contender for the number two spot" in the tablet market, ChangeWave said while releasing the results. "Launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire is the most explosive development in the tablet market since the release of the original iPad," it noted. The ChangeWave survey of 3,043 North American consumers was conducted from Nov. 1 to 13, days before the Kindle Fire went on sale. The survey showed a high level of initial demand for the Amazon tablet, with 2 percent respondents having already pre-ordered the device, 5 percent saying they are "very likely" to buy and another 12 percent saying they are "somewhat likely" to buy. The Amazon product "represents a shot across the bow at Apple," which until now has almost completely dominated the tablet market, ChangeWave said. The research firm suggested that the Kindle Fire surge may also contain "a silver lining for Apple" by damaging the tablet market hopes of the remaining competitors. Its latest survey showed that Samsung is set to be the number three player in the tablet market in the near future with 4 percent of potential buyers planning to choose the Samsung Galaxy Tab. After Samsung, no other manufacturer is garnering more than 1 percent of future tablet demand among consumers, according to the survey.