Forget The Negative Reviews, Amazon Is Shipping The Kindle Fire A Day Early

The reviews are in: The Kindle Fire is a dog. Mostly. But don’t tell those that jumped on the bandwagon early because Amazon is shipping the Fire a day earlier than expected. The device was supposed to ship tomorrow, but the retailer just announced that it’s hitting shipping channels today. The Kindle Touch is also shipping earlier than previously announced. The new touchscreen Kindles will leave Amazon fullfillment centers tomorrow, six days early.

Amazon announced the Fire in late September and instantly won the Android tablet race. Even with the poor initial reviews, the Fire will still be a winner thanks to a smart content ecosystem that puts substance before specs. Even prior to its release, the Fire managed to become Amazon’s top selling item. But that title might not last long. The first round of reviews hit today, stating that the Fire’s custom Android build isn’t polished, unoriginal and sluggish in operation.

“We’re thrilled to be able to ship Kindle Fire to our customers earlier than we expected. Kindle Fire quickly became the bestselling item across all of Amazon.com, and based on customer response we’re building millions more than we’d planned,” said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle in a released statement today. “Customers are excited about Kindle Fire because it is a premium product at the non-premium price of only $199.”

Some analysts pegged the Fire to even outsell the iPad this holiday season. It still might even with negative reviews from such heavyweights as David Pogue as Amazon knows marketing and product distribution. Besides Amazon, the Fire is available from Best Buy, Staples, Office Max, Target, and Radio Shack; that’s more retailers than sold the original iPad. Combine the available retailers with the Kindle brand and Amazon will likely sell more than few Fires.