Nathaniel Lewis, a SAP Administrator and a technology professional, he writes many How To informational articles on his site: MyExplainHowTo.info. Lately he's posted an article comparing between the Apple iPad and the Amazon Kindle, and starts with:
The ability to carry your favorite reading material with you and have it available is amazing. When the Amazon Kindle first launched, it was a must item for me. I had subscriptions to various news papers and magazines and my love for reading was... re-Kindled.
Years later, along came the iPad. The magical device described by the CEO of Apple. With the thousands of apps users have at their disposal, users and Kindle owners can download their already purchased content to their iPad device. Does this make the Kindle obsolete? I would think not. Does the iPad replace the Kindle? You decide.
In my opinion, I believe there has been a cause and effect since the release of the iPad. The effect that its had on Amazon was to lower their prices to possibly capture customers thinking about buying an iPad (but can't afford one).
Again this is my opinion; however, lowering the prices of the Kindle was a smart and strategic move by the makers. There are consumers who see no need (at the present) to own an iPad. What happens when they learn more about this device? Could they very well decide to make the purchase and Kindle loses another percentage of their market share? I think this could very well happen.
The iPad has not replaced the Kindle, but I feel that Kindle has to compete for its survival. While it is true, the Kindle can be read with no problems in the bright sun light while the iPad has issues with glare. There are commercials that exploit this and bring to the attention of consumers.
Has the iPad replaced my Amazon Kindle that I purchased about three years ago? Yes, I originally purchased the first generation Kindle. The Kindle was and still is a great electronic reading device. When the iPad came along, my thinking was' "why have two devices?" Since I have access to and can read my books on my iPad, I no longer need the Kindle, so I sold it.
Shortly after I sold my Kindle, the prices dropped to their now existing prices (under $140 for a base model). When this happened, I could only think, was this reflective to what other Kindle owners were doing and it caused Amazon to lower prices so consumers could afford a new kindle vice a used one?
The individual customer can decide whether their iPad is a replacement for their Kindle. Both are great products, but let's face it, only one can be the star and the customer that's attracted to many bells and whistles, might decide to go with the product that will do more than allow you to read a book.
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