Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet exploit iPad 3 wait

Tablet display panel makers claimed Wednesday that orders for seven-inch tablet displays in November had overtaken those of 9.7-inch displays, which are used almost exclusively in the iPad. The combination of strong Amazon Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet demand was said by the Digitimes contacts to have pushed order up 17 percent month to month. The sources didn't provide targets for December or break down shipments by the individual maker, although Barnes & Noble may have shipped 1.5 million Nooks while rumors have surfaced of five million Kindle Fires shipping in 2011.

The shift, if true, might be taking advantage of an Apple transition. Apple is said to have started iPad 3 display production as early as November and, if following its typical manufacturing practices, would start ramping down production for the iPad 2's display first.

Seven-inch tablets have become much more popular towards the end of the year through a conscious attempt to get away from direct competition with the iPad or regular Android tablets. Prices between $199 to $249 help by creating a clear price gap that matches feature expectations, but both the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet also use interfaces that are optimized for their content and usually simpler than what Google offers.

Traditional seven-inch tablets, such as the BlackBerry PlayBook or Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, have often floundered as they often cost as much or close to a larger tablet like the iPad but have reduced screen areas and often worse battery life.

By Electronista Staff