Three Reasons Why the iPad WON’T Kill Amazon’s Kindle | Hacker News Reader

Three Reasons Why the iPad WON’T Kill Amazon’s Kindle

bits.blogs.nytimes.com

23 pointsjv222211 comments

If Amazon does two things, a) drops price and b) continues to rapidly improve their product I think the Kindle could continue to have a very comfortable niche and could in the end either split the book market with Apple or control most of it.

Nintendo's massively underpowered Gameboy famously defeated waves upon waves of highly advanced competitors by understanding what the market really wanted (great games and great battery life) and doing that better than the competition. It's much, much too early to say how the battle between the Kindle and the iPad for the book market will play out, but I think if there is indeed a clear differentiator in quality between the Kindle and iPad screen, and the Kindle is truly better for reading, then there might be an opportunity for Amazon to put their foot in the door and show that they have the better product. For folks who are interested in an eBook Reader but already have an iPhone and a Macbook a cheaper Kindle could be the better option than the iPad.

At this point I do feel that Amazon may need to get some retail partners and to set up Kindle Kiosks in electronics and drug stores across the world. It doesn't matter if your screen is better if no one can see it first hand, and they're dazzled by the iPad they see in their local Apple store.

The other issue that Amazon faces is while they may be able to lower their price and keep a nice spacing between them and the iPad, eventually the price of the iPad will come down and the Kindle will less attractive. Amazon will need to continue to innovate on their technology and seek out relationships to build content that Apple won't be able to get. The announcement of the Kindle SDK is a good first start.

I agree wholeheartedly about the need for lower pricing - Kindle seems like something that should cost much, much less than it does. If it was priced at $99, it would go from being an overpriced toy for well-off adults to being something that every parent buys for their children. Not sure how easy that is to make jibe with the prepaid cell data plan, though.

Also agree that seeing helps the Kindle a lot, as it does for most electronics, but especially something as display-centric as the Kindle.

Disagree about the SDK, though. The Kindle screen is godawful slow at refreshing, and I've not been impressed by the user interface - I can't imagine wanting to develop on it. What do you see it being useful for besides being able to say "We have an SDK!"?

I think Amazon should decouple those two prices. Like "Buy a Kindle for $99 and get 3G Access form $10/month".

If Apple priced the iPad bundled with the cost of the data plan into it may be $1,000 with 1 year of "free" 3G.

Well I'm a kindle fanboy, but I don't really think 250$ is that much for a kindle .

An ipod costs the same amount

I agree with the kiosk idea though, once you've tried out a kindle you would never consider reading a book on a non-e-ink screen.

If I were writing this article, it would have read: "1: E-Ink. 2: E-Ink. 3: E. Ink."

Seriously though, you can't compare a device with two weeks of battery life and an e-ink screen with a large iPod. They are completely different devices for completely different purposes.

Sure, you can read books on your iPad... but I doubt that is why people will be buying them.

Editors to staff: iPad is hot, write something

  The Kindle is for book lovers, and the iPad is not.

- Book lovers love books and the iPad lets them buy books... And if I am going to blow several hundred bucks buying one that looks nicer and also does lots of other stuff.

  Amazon will continue to improve on the Kindle.

- So will Apple...

  The Kindle store will continue to thrive.

- This has nothing to do with how well the Kindle will do. iPad also wont kill Amazon.com while we are at it.

I agree. Its like "we got to write about the iPad, what do you got? Everyone is saying it'll kill the Kindle, so lets say it won't... brilliant!" :)

I don't thin it'll kill the Kindle, I think it'll bring about a price drop, and more innovation from Kindle. But this article is just sensationalism.

The Kindle takes the book/publishment you want to read and lets you focus entirely on that. No flashy page curls, no notifications, hell not even a clock to see what time it is. It's wonderful in that sense. The e-ink is also a nice benefit, my eyes _never_ hurt from reading on my Kindle.

I think the iPad has a good idea going with iBooks and I hope they eventually do magazines as magazines are very media-heavy but I don't see it taking over the Kindles growing book environment.

Kindle will get the head (heavy readers), iPad will get the long tail (casual readers). There's room for both.

Blackberries still exist. The iPhone didn't kill them, and for many good reasons. Apple doesn't need to kill RIM or Amazon. But just as Blackberries won't be the definitive number one smartphone on the planet anytime soon, so does Kindle's future beyond its three million market or so look bleak.

What about weight? For a paperback sized kindle it is about half the weight of a ipad... (300g for the kindle and 680g for the ipad)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com