Amazon has announced it’s about to launch the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablets in more than 170 countries worldwide, with pre-orders beginning today. The company hasn’t been forthcoming with the names of all 170 countries about to be given the option to buy a Kindle tablet, but has confirmed the following locations:
Ireland and Gibraltar will be able to get their Kindle Fire tablets through Amazon.co.uk, while Austria and Luxembourg will need to visit Amazon.de. Finally, customers from Monaco can use Amazon.fr. Pre-ordering will result in the Kindle Fire shipping on June 13. As Amazon also has localized versions of its store for Brazil, Canada, China, Italy, Japan, and Spain, expect other nearby countries to share these stores. Amazon also states high street retailers around the world will be carrying the Kindle Fire HD.
While Amazon doesn’t want to say where the Fire HD will be going on sale, we can look to another recent Amazon announcement for further clues. On April 17, Amazon confirmed it would be opening the virtual doors of its application store in nearly 200 countries, so it makes sense for Amazon’s hardware to closely follow in the majority of them. Of the 200, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea were all highlighted, so we’d expect those to be on the list for a new Kindle Fire HD tablet. India was also mentioned in Amazon’s app store press release, and local news sources confirmed yesterday the app store had opened for business.
The Kindle Fire HD and Fire HD 8.9 were introduced in the U.S. in September last year, with the Fire HD 8.9 going on sale in late November. A subsequent price drop of the top-of-the-range model coincided with its international debut this March. Research into the global tablet market has shown Amazon holds fourth position in terms of market share, with an estimated 1.8 million tablets sold over the first quarter of 2013. Expanding its efforts by such a huge amount should see that figure grow considerably before the end of the year.
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