Amazon says unit sales of its Fire tablets tripled and sales of its Kindle e-readers nearly quadrupled on Black Friday this year, compared with Black Friday a year ago.
The company, which doesn’t disclose specific unit sales figures for its devices, continued that tradition in its announcement this morning, declining to say exactly how many Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets were sold on the big shopping day.
But the big increase suggests that Amazon’s tablets, in particular, will continue their pattern of posting big sales during the holiday season, as people buy the devices as gifts, and dropping off significantly the rest of the year. Amazon was the #3 tablet vendor last holiday season, for example, but had fallen out of the top 5 as recently as the September quarter.
Amazon dominates the e-reader market, and this is the first holiday season for its high-end ($199) Kindle Voyage e-reader.
The company did not give any sales trends for its Fire Phone, which has struggled since its launch earlier this year.
Amazon’s announcement comes on Cyber Monday, historically the biggest online shopping day of the year, as people return to work continue their holiday shopping online, in search of deals. Amazon says it will be offering its Fire TV streaming device for $69, a 30 percent savings, as part of its Cyber Monday promotions.
