Amazon's $139 Kindle Fire HD Could Sell 2 Million Units Before December

Amazon AMZN expects to sell a large number of low-cost tablets this fall. According to DigiTimes, Amazon has asked Taiwan-based ODMs (original design manufacturers) to ship more than two million units of its slightly revised Kindle Fire HD. Retailing for $139 (for the 8GB model) and $169 (for the 16GB iteration), the Kindle Fire HD is not be confused with the all-new Kindle Fire HDX. The standard Kindle Fire HD is essentially the same as last year's model but with a few extra tweaks. It also comes with a much lower price. Amazon's massive order will be split over October and November, with each month receiving more than one million units. At $139, the Kindle Fire HD will be one of the cheapest tablets available. It carries the same price as Hewlett-Packard's HPQ Slate 7, and undercuts most other devices by a significant margin. Related: iPad Mini Delay Could Hurt Apple, Boost Kindle Fire HDX In fact, the Kindle Fire HD is just $20 more than the latest Kindle Paperwhite. While the Paperwhite offers a special benefit to avid readers (a battery that lasts for several weeks), it lacks the multimedia features of a tablet. This could tip the scale in the Kindle Fire's favor, giving it an edge in sales this holiday season. When Amazon released the Kindle Fire HD last fall, it reduced the price of the previous (non-HD) model to $159. Now the HD model is even cheaper. At this rate, Amazon could be the first company to sell a high-quality seven-inch tablet for $100 or less. It just might take a few years to happen. Meanwhile, the company's high-end tablet will retail for $30 more than anticipated. Instead of charging $199 for the seven-inch Kindle Fore HDX, Amazon is charging $229 -- the same price as Google's GOOG second-generation Nexus 7. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report. Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ