Amazon hunts more market share, takes its Appstore and Kindle Fire tablets global

On Thursday, Amazon announces that the Kindle Fire HD tablets, in 7-inch and 8.9-inch trim, are now available for pre-order through its website in more than 170 countries and regions worldwide. Previously, the US e-commerce company only offered the two devices in a lower number of markets.

"Kindle Fire HD is the number one best-selling item in the world for Amazon since its launch, and we're thrilled to make it available to even more customers around the globe today", says Amazon Kindle vice president Dave Limp. The two devices go on sale from June 13, with the price starting at $214 for the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD and $284 for its bigger brother, the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD (both with no special offers and sponsored screensavers).

Buyers from Ireland and Gibraltar will be able to purchase the devices from Amazon UK, folks from Austria and Luxembourg have to head over to Amazon Germany and Monaco residents can grab either of the two Kindle Fires from Amazon France. The company does not provide any details concerning buyers from other markets.

Specs for the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD include: 7-inch display with a resolution of 1280 by 800; 1.2 GHz dual-core TI OMAP4 processor; 1 GB of RAM; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n; Bluetooth 3.0 with EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) and Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich-based branded operating system.

The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD comes with a 8.9-inch display with a resolution of 1920 by 1200; 1.5 GHz dual-core TI OMAP4 processor; 1 GB of RAM; Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n; Bluetooth 3.0 with EDR; GPS and Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich-based branded operating system.

Appstore Follows Kindle Fires

To allow the new prospective buyers to purchase content, today Amazon also brings its Appstore to little under 200 countries worldwide. The company, without mentioning the new markets, revealed that Brazil will follow in "the coming months".

"We are thrilled to be expanding the reach of our global app distribution to nearly 200 countries. We think our customers will love the app selection we have to offer and also find features such as Free App of the Day and personalized recommendations very helpful as they discover and explore new apps and games", says Amazon vice president of Apps and Games Mike George.

The Appstore expansion is not restricted to Amazon's devices, as the company says that Android, OS X and Windows users from the new supported markets will also be able to purchase apps and games.

Amazon Hunts Market Share

In Q1 2013, based on shipments, IDC placed Amazon as the fourth-largest tablet maker, behind Apple, Samsung and ASUS. The US company moved 1.8 million units and held a 3.7 percent share of the market, numbers higher than in Q1 2012.

With the extended availability of its Kindle Fire HD tablets, Amazon becomes a threat to ASUS' place on the podium. The Taiwanese maker shipped 2.7 million fondleslabs and had a 2.7 percent market share in Q1 2013, numbers close to Amazon's. As one of the most popular and largest e-commerce websites in the world, the latter can close that gap in the coming quarters.