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Fight! Amazon Takes the Gloves off Against Apple’s iPad Mini

By | October 29, 2012 | 4 comments
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Apple’s iPad mini went on sale last Thursday, and just a few days later, the smaller sized tablet has sold so well that it’s out of stock for the next two weeks.

It looks like the mini’s aggressive sales have spooked Amazon, inspiring the Seattle-based company to release a new advertisement for the Kindle Fire HD, which has a decidedly anti-Apple slant.

The ad, which is currently featured on the front page of Amazon.com opens with a quote from Gizmodo: “… 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 goes on to compare the virtues of the Kindle Fire HD with the mini, advertising features that cast the Fire in a better light than the mini. Amazon criticizes the mini’s 1024 by 768 display, claiming that the Kindle Fire HD has a “stunning HD display with 30% more pixels than the iPad mini.” The mini is described as having a “standard definition, low-resolution display.”

Amazon also points out that the Kindle Fire HD can play HD movies and TV, while the iPad mini cannot due to its lower resolution, which is not untrue. And of course, Amazon highlights the pricing differences between the Kindle Fire HD and the mini, with the former selling for $199 and the latter selling for $329.

Of course, these differences haven’t prevented customers from snapping up iPad minis.

Amazon too claims that the iPad mini brought it significant sales, telling All Things D that Wednesday (the day following the iPad mini announcement) was its biggest sales day since the Kindle Fire HD launched.

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  • http://twitter.com/chaosz911 René de Groot

    Funny, on this same page you see “Related Posts” and among them an article with the title “Amazon releases new Kindle Fire HD – Still not an iPad killer. ;)

  • bregalad

    Amazon is right, the Kindle Fire HD has some really nice hardware. It also has some nice software for consuming Amazon content, software that’s designed to keep users from doing anything else with the device because Amazon couldn’t afford to sell a tablet at cost if they weren’t making a profit somewhere else.

    Apple sells hardware at a profit, usually a very healthy profit. Their UI is designed for third party developers to build apps and those developers have responded with a dizzying array of tablet optimized apps for pretty much anything you can think of. Consuming Amazon and iBooks and iTunes media content, while possible, is not the sole function of an iPad.

    While I find Phil Schiller’s product demos rather bland, his illustration of the difference between the native tablet apps you get on iPad and the double size phone apps you get on the Kindle Fire is very clear. At this point in time the Kindle Fire is a great device if you’re buying it to consume Amazon content and the iPad is a great if you want full featured apps.

    If Amazon is selling razors at cost and making a profit on the blades, Apple is selling electric shavers. There’s room in the marketplace for both.

    • AdamChew

      Apple optimize their software to do wonders.

      Any problem with Apple products is solved by fixing the software.

      Yes less pixesl but looks better than the kindle HD.

      Is the Kindle OS as good as iOS?

      Wait the kindle is great at sucking money from the users that is definitely a plus.

      Consume and be consumed.

      • Brandenlee

        The iPad mini has a better camera too.