Amazon ups Kindle Fire orders to meet soaring holiday demand

Amazon has ordered an additional 1 million Kindle Fire tablets from its manufacturers, increasing the total number it expects to ship before the end of 2011 to 5 million. Previously, the company was expecting to ship just 3.5 million, but it increased this number to 4 million in the middle of Q3, Digitimes reports.

Yesterday it was revealed that an Amazon subsidiary purchased Yap, a voice recognition technology similar to Siri that, if loaded onto the Kindle Fire, could help the e-commerce giant contest Apple’s seemingly insurmountable lead in the tablet race. Currently, the only Apple device that supports Siri is the iPhone 4S, and Amazon has made no announcement that the Kindle Fire, or any previous version of the Kindle will offer voice recognition technology.

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Amazon quarterly profits were much lower than expected, with a 73 percent decline in revenue, but successful adoption of the Kindle Fire by American consumers is predicted to considerably change this trajectory.

Companies involved in manufacturing the Kindle Fire include Wintek, Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), LG Display, Ilitek, Quanta Computer, Aces Connectors and Wah Hong Industrial.