While the wannabe “iPad killers” have languished in the marketplace (or on the drawing board), the Kindle has quietly become Amazon’s number-one gadget. Is the Kindle really a competitor, or a companion?
Amazon had a very green Christmas this year, as customers flocked to the online retailer to do their holiday shopping. On Monday, the company announced that its Kindle e-reader had become Amazon’s bestselling item in is history, surpassing “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7).” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had an interesting take on how the Kindle stack up next to the iPad: “We’re seeing that many of the people who are buying Kindles also own an LCD tablet. Customers report using their LCD tablets for games, movies, and web browsing and their Kindles for reading sessions. They report preferring Kindle for reading because it weighs less, eliminates battery anxiety with its month-long battery life, and has the advanced paper-like Pearl e-ink display that reduces eye-strain, doesn’t interfere with sleep patterns at bedtime, and works outside in direct sunlight, an important consideration especially for vacation reading. Kindle’s $139 price point is a key factor – it’s low enough that people don’t have to choose.”
In the face of the way tablets that are basically iPad clones with similar price tags have failed in the marketplace, or haven’t made it out of the gate, the success of the Kindle is especially impressive. The question is—are buyers choosing Kindle instead of iPad, or does owning one make you more likely to buy the other?
As Bezos points out, each has its own niche and the Kindle’s low price makes it possible for many users to purchase both. The Kindle has only one serious e-reader competitor, the Barnes & Noble Nook, which has recently debuted a color model, and other tech brands don’t seem to be in a hurry to put out comparable devices. OTOH, tablet computers based on the iPad are expected to flood next month’s CES. The one product that could give both the iPad and the Kindle some serious competition would be an LCD tablet with a price tag under $200—but nobody seems to be able to pull that one off yet.
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