9-inch Amazon Kindle Fire on cards for this year?

Amazon is expected to fire up the tablet market this year by bringing in a new 9-inch Kindle Fire.

The company is also expected to roll out a 7-inch tablet as well. The tablets are expected to arrive by the middle of the year.

Pacific Crest analyst, Chad Bartley expects Amazon to sell 14.9 million Kindle Fire units in 2012. This is a 2.2 million up from his previous estimate.

AllThingsD notes that, 'in raising Fire estimates, Bartley also reduced his Kindle e-reader unit estimates to 24 million from 28.6 million. It’s not clear that increased Kindle Fire adoption is responsible for that decline .. But it’s pretty easy to make the argument that the Fire is cannibalizing sales of its less-capable predecessors.'

Going up the popularity of the tablet in the market, it comes as little surprise that the analyst predicts a bright future.

Amazon recently uploaded a new ad underlining its amazing features and affordability. Beating the iPad hollow, the ad pointed out how at the cost of one Apple iPad, you can buy 2 Kindle Fire tablets and a anti-glare screen Kindle e-book reader.

We have heard quite a few rumors in the past about Amazon's tablet plans. A 10.1-inch model and a 8.9-inch Kindle Fire was also said to be in works. However so far we haven't seen either of the two materialize. The company maybe threading the tablet market carefully, waiting for the right moment to break in. Could this be the right year?