Amazon Kindle Fire sold out as new model expected - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Amazon.com Inc. says it has sold out of its Kindle Fire tablet computer amid expectations of a new model for the holiday season.

The Internet retailer has a major press conference scheduled for next Thursday in Santa Monica, Calif. It's widely expected to reveal a new model of the Fire there, so Thursday's announcement that the first model is "sold out" suggests that Amazon halted production a while ago to retool for a new model.

Amazon launched the $199 tablet last November. It was the first Kindle with a color screen and the ability to run third-party applications, placing it in competition with Apple 's iPad, at half the price of the cheapest iPad.

Amazon doesn't say how many Fires it has sold, but says it captured 22 percent of U.S. tablet sales over nine months. That would make it the second-most popular tablet, after the iPad. An analyst at research firm IDC says that figure matches his estimate of 6.7 million Fires sold, all in the U.S.

Apple is expected to introduce a smaller, cheaper iPad to take on the threat of the Kindle Fire and reach buyers who can't afford a full-sized iPad. In addition, Google just launched its own Kindle-sized tablet, the Nexus 7, and is selling it for $199.

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