The launch of the iPad Mini has without a doubt set a new stage in the ever-expanding rivalry between Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN). The online retail giant, whose Kindle Fire HD goes head-to-head with Apple’s smaller iPad, has gone on the offensive lately by using the Apple brand name to promote how its own Kindle Fire lineup, which expanded this year beyond the original 7-inch size to include the new 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, is better than Apple’s iPad mini.
As you can see above, Amazon has given its homepage a facelift by posting on a brief quote extracted from a review written by Gizmodo’s Brent Rose on the recently launched Apple gadget that reads, in part: “…your [Apple’s] 7.9-inch tablet has far fewer pixels than the competing 7-inch tablets! You’re cramming a worse screen in there, charging more, and accusing others of compromise? Ballsy.”.
It’s worth noting that Amazon removed the beginning of that paragraph, which began with “Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me.” We think had they included the phrase, it would’ve made Amazon’s point that much stronger. (Rose’s full review can be found here.)
That said, and despite a side-by-side comparison using screen quality, pixels per inch, ability to watch HD movies/TV, speaker quality and price criteria — Amazon somehow forgot to mention that in terms of lightness, screen size, app volume and iPad Mini’s “thin as a pencil” aspect, Apple is the clear winner.
This not the first time that Amazon has singled out Apple’s tablets. In the company’s earnings press release last week, Amazon’s CEO and founder Jeff Bezos argued that his company’s approach “is to work hard to charge less”.
“Sell devices near breakeven and you can pack a lot of sophisticated hardware into a very low price point,” Bezos said.
It is yet unclear as to what prompted Amazon to go on the offensive. In a statement to All Things D on Friday, an Amazon spokesman said that “Wednesday was the $199 Kindle Fire HD’s biggest day of sales since launch and up 3x week over week.” Apple launched the 7.9-inch, A5 dual-core processor mini tablet on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, no word yet from Google (GOOG) which has been forced to cancel its Nexus tablet event due to Hurricane Sandy approaching the east coast. In a statement, the search giant said: “We are cancelling our Monday morning event in New York due to Hurricane Sandy. We will let you know our plans as soon as we know more. Stay safe and dry, The Android Team.”
The cancellation gives Microsoft (MSFT) the opportunity to focus the attention on its Windows 8, which is designed for touchscreen computers, and the Surface tablet launch event in San Francisco this evening.
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Amazon thinks this will have an impact on those that are undecided. However those that are undecided are likely to research a bit more than reading a single ad. Lower prices attract buyers no doubt, but not loyalty. Apple needs to get into this ‘space’ and Amazon is worried that it will.
Despite all the pluses on KFire’s side it is just too hard to navigate for me. What is so intuitive on an Apple product is illogical on the KFire. I ordered one, tried it out, but then had to return it because I kept getting lost in their pathways. That just has never happened to me in the iPad or any Mac tool. Maybe it is a left brain right brain thing.