Amazon shoppers have purchased more than 1 million Kindledevices for the third week in a row, the company announced this week.
It’s no secret that the Kindle line has been wildly successful for Amazon, and its Kindle Fire tablet — which debuted just 11 weeks ago — is the company’s bestselling item ever. Although Amazon hasn’t released details on sales figures, the Kindle Fire is priced at $199, so it’s not hard to guess how much the company is raking in. Other popular devices in the line include the Kindle Touch 3G ( $149), the Kindle ($79) and Kindle Touch ($99).
Although the Kindle Fire has been selling at unprecedented levels, the tablet has also been met with criticismabout its less-than-stellar performance. In fact, the company recently confirmed with Mashable that it is planning a major software update to help improve the user experience.
“As with all of our products, we continue to make them better for customers with regular software updates — in fact, in less than two weeks, we’re rolling out an over-the-air update to Kindle Fire that will improve performance, touch navigation and give customers the option to choose what items display on the carousel,†the Amazon public relations team says.
Although the company hasn’t commented on when next-generation hardware for the device will be unveiled, some industry experts expect it to debut in the spring.
The Kindle Fire has been met with some harsh reviews out of the gate. Last week, a study from the Nielsen Norman Group found that a panel of mobile phone users called the device’s user experience “poor,†noting an error-prone browser and a touchscreen too small for fingers.
“The most striking observation from testing the Fire is that everything is much too small on the screen, leading to frequent tap errors and accidental activation,†Nielsen Normal Group founder Jakob Nielsen said.
Other complaints from the group include that the Fire is too heavy and that it takes too long to load pages.
[MASHABLE]
