iPad feeling some heat from Amazon's Kindle Fire

Apple's iPhone seems to be running in an Android tablet, which could knock it on a peg or two.

After hitting retailers on 15 November at $ 199, which is already Amazon's Kindle Four tablet outselling iPhone at Best Buy. Sort tablets of the top sellers in Best Buy's website shows the fire in the first place, followed by 16GB Wi-Fi-only iPad 2 at $ 499 comes in second. A number of other iPhone carriers of different flavors are scattered over the top 40 tablets.

Amazon Kindle itself does fire as the best selling tablet on its website, with 16GB iPad further down the list. But it seems to be a less accurate indicator of Fire popularity since buyers are more likely to pick up the tablet directly from Amazon.

Before the fire was launched just over two weeks ago, the tablet seems to be a big seller, racking up a large number of orders. Coupling of the fire as one of the hottest consumer devices on holiday buyers, market research firm DisplaySearch recently increased shipment forecasts for the current quarter.

DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim Amazon now expects to send 6 million tablets Four this season, up from 4 million previously.

Another analyst sees the fire as the iPhone some competition, but to a lesser extent.

In an investor note today, said JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz's fourth quarter sales estimates for Apple's tablet trimmed to 13 million, from 13.3 million previously. Moskowitz wrote especially for the lower expected more modest growth in production, but also pointed to the fire.

"To a lesser extent, the Amazon Kindle Four better than expected momentum with more price-sensitive consumer is also a factor," the analyst wrote.

Of course, Apple is certainly no danger of losing its current dominance in the tablet market. Moskowitz believes that the time the iPhone will actually get more traction in business and education market. And despite the hot holiday demand after the fire, the analyst does not see the current version of Amazon's of the tablet as a strong enough competitor in the long run.

"We believe that for any seller of momentum in the long run Apple's wrestling, a fully loaded offering is a must, and here, the ongoing review of Kindle fails Four," Moskowitz wrote. "We believe that over time, consumers may come away disappointed at the lack of functionality kindle fire, and the smaller screen size. In our view, the current Kindle Four of the media tablet netbook market. The big question is whether the Fire evolves to a bona fide tablet release its next generation. "