The iPad mini from Apple has finally launched, and Amazon was ready for it. A visit to the Amazon.com home page in the United States puts the iPad mini up against the Kindle Fire HD in a head-to-head battle complete with six key feature comparisons that are sure to matter to consumers. You can see a screenshot of the Amazon home page below. The six-point comparison shows the following differences between Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD and Apple’s iPad mini:
- Kindle Fire HD has an HD display with 30% more pixels than the iPad mini, which has a standard definition, low-resolution display.
- Kindle Fire HD shows 216 pixels per inch vs. 163 pixels per inch for the iPad mini.
- Kindle Fire HD enables customers to view HD movies and television, but the iPad mini offers no HD movies or television.
- Kindle Fire HD has dual stereo speakers compared to the iPad mini’s mono speaker.
- Kindle Fire HD offers ultra-fast, MIMO Wi-Fi, which the iPad mini does not.
- Kindle Fire HD costs $199, which is significantly cheaper than $329 for the iPad mini.
Click the image below to view it at full size.
Another smart addition to the Amazon home page is the quote from the popular tech site Gizmodo, which offers what Amazon hopes is an unbiased, expert opinion about the Kindle Fire HD’s superiority over the iPad mini. In the quote, Gizmodo’s writer questions Apple’s iPad mini advertising messages by asking, “… 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 and accusing others of compromise?”
Of course, this comparison is for one model of Amazon’s Kindle versus one model of Apple’s iPad mini, but it’s presented in a way that draws attention to differentiators that matter to consumers. Amazon’s Kindle has to battle against the coolness factor of the Apple and iPad brands and communicating tangible reasons why consumers should not choose Apple and iPad is very smart.
Naturally, the iPad mini offers its own differentiators, but in the growing tablet market, Amazon is boldly attacking its primary competitor and the market leader head on. What do you think? Will it work?
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.