Amazon is expected to ship 3.9 million Kindle Fire tablets during the last three months of 2011, the first quarter the product goes on sale, according to preliminary projection from IHS.

　　The number will give Amazon a 13.8-percent share of global tablet market in the fourth quarter, surpassing the 4.8 percent held by No. 3 player Samsung, and second only to Apple's commanding 65.6 percent market share.

　　"Nearly two years after Apple Inc. rolled out the iPad, a competitor has finally developed an alternative which looks like it might have enough of Apple's secret sauce to succeed," Rhoda Alexander, senior manager of tablet and monitor research for IHS, said in a statement.

　　"Initial market response strongly suggests that Amazon, with the Kindle Fire, has found the right combination of savvy pricing, astute marketing, accessible content and an appropriate business model, positioning the Kindle Fire to appeal to a brand-new set of media tablet buyers," she added.

　　IHS analysts noted that with a price tag of 199 U.S. dollars, the Kindle Fire has set a new bar for pricing, bringing the tablet within reach of a larger portion of the buying public.

　　IHS expects Kindle Fire's rapid ascent to help fuel the expansion of the entire tablet market, now predicting that 64.7 million tablets will be shipped in 2011, higher than its previous forecast of 60 million issued in August.

　　The total tablet shipment number this year will represent a 273- percent growth from 17.4 million units in 2010, said IHS, which has also increased its longer-term projection of global tablet shipment in 2015 to 287.2 million units.