• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 2, 2012

A new ChangeWave study shows the proportion of Kindle Fire owners doubled to 6% in January from the prior month, buoyed by strong holiday sales. The finding was based on a survey of 2,607 North American consumers.

Amazon hasn’t revealed the number of Kindle Fire tablets sold, but said sales of Kindle devices overall tripled during the holiday season. Nevertheless, the company missed fourth quarter revenue estimates and at least one Wall Street analyst indicated Kindle Fire sales fell short of his estimate of 5 million in the quarter.

The ChangeWave survey also compared the attitudes of Kindle owners and non-owners. For instance, nearly three-in-ten Kindle Fire users (29%) say they'll spend more money at Amazon over the next 90 days, compared to 19% of non-owners. If that bears out, it’s a sign that the company’s strategy to use its tablet as a vehicle for driving increased sales of digital and physical goods could start to pay off.

When asked how satisfied they are with their new tablet device, better than one-in-two Kindle Fire owners (54%) said they’re “very satisfied.” Another 38% said “somewhat satisfied.” That compares to 74% who have previously said they were “very satisfied” with the iPad and 49% that were “very satisfied” with other tablet models. That puts the Kindle Fire ahead of the pack but still well behind the Apple tablet in customer satisfaction.

What don’t people like about the Amazon tablet? The top dislikes among the 254 Kindle Fire owners surveyed were the lack of a volume button (27%), no camera (21%), battery life (15%), and the lack of 3G/4G capability and the dearth of apps (each 12%). There’s been speculation the next version of the Kindle Fire will sport a 10-inch screen and other new features to compete more directly with the iPad.