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After a great deal of anticipation, Apple has finally unveiled their long awaited tablet computer. The name is confirmed as the iPad, which took some pundits by surprise – earlier guesses included iSlate, iTablet etc. – and it’s fair to say that it has received something of a mixed reception up to now. When it comes to Apple, there is always a certain amount of polarisation, and that’s exactly what’s in evidence at the moment.
Some reviewers have suggested that it is nothing more than an oversized iPod Touch. Others are much more enthused and are forecasting the death of netbooks, notebooks and the Amazon Kindle e-book reader. The proof of the pudding is in the eating of course, and this will come when the iPad actually launches in March. It’s almost certain to be another success for Apple.
At the moment, the most commonly drawn comparison seems to be with the Amazon Kindle e-book reader. The two devices are really quite different – so any comparison must be made with caution. However, the comparison is practically unavoidable bearing in mind that Amazon’s Kindle has been the trendiest, “must have” gadget on the market for the last few months and was itself frequently dubbed “the iPod of books”.
Of course, the Kindle is a specialised device. It performs its primary function – allowing users to read books – very well and has a few supplementary functions, a basic web browser, a dictionary, receipt of newspapers and magazines etc., which it performs, in all honesty, less well. The iPad, on the other hand, is an extremely versatile device which performs many different functions. Unlike the Kindle it has a very nice color display, which includes touch screen control capability and has an accelerometer. That means that it’s great for surfing the net, ideal for video playback, an mp3 player, an e-book reader and all of the entire library of “apps” developed for the iPod Touch will operate on it. Expect to see some pretty radical games appearing soon.
So should Amazon be worried that Apple is going to kill the Kindle reader off and eat into their profits? It seems improbable. Putting the hype to one side, there is actually a pretty big price difference between the two devices. Certainly, the price of the entry level iPad at $ 499 is only $ 10 higher than the current Kindle DX price. However, the entry level model has no 3G connectivity and there is a minimum monthly $ 15 charge for the Apple device, which could increase to $ 30 depending upon how many downloads you make and what size they are. With the Kindle 3G is included and there is no monthly fee. It’s quite probable that the iPad’s appearance on the scene could produce a downward adjustment in the ticket price of the DX – but this would have happened anyway.
One of the apps that many will use on the iPad will be the “Kindle app”, which basically allows users to read Kindle books on their Pod or Pad. In fact, it may well be a good opportunity for Amazon to grow the size of their potential Kindle book market. Apple will also have its own book store for iPad users – so there could be some price competition in future. In which case the consumers will be the ones who stand to gain.
When the iPad starts shipping in March, it’s a fair bet that a lot of enthusiastic customers will be making their purchases via the Amazon website. It will probably generate a very nice spike in sales for them.
So – Amazon will have the potential to increase the sales of Kindle books. It will also do very nicely as a merchant considering that the Amazon site will be the first port of call for many iPad buyers. The price of the Kindle DX will fall, which it would have anyway, but they will continue to sell in volume and Amazon will continue to profit. It just serves to underline how robust the Amazon business model is.
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