Amazon’s new homepage is proof the online retailer is ready to duke it out with Apple in the raging war of the tablets.
The homepage, a slap in the face to arch rival Apple, says the Kindle Fire HD offers “much more for much less” than Apple’s new smaller tablet. The iPad Mini sells for $329 while the Kindle Fire HD retails for $199.
It is for the first time Amazon has actively pitted itself against the mobile giant.
A quote from technology site Gizmodo is also prominently displayed on the homepage: “your (Apple’s) 7.9-inch tablet has far fewer pixels than the competing seven-inch tablets. You’re cramming a worse screen in there, charging more and accusing others of compromise? Ballsy.”
Amazon also offers a side-by-side comparison of the tablets’ features touting the Kindle Fire HD’s “stunning HD display with 30 percent more pixels than iPad mini.”
The webpage also details the Kindle Fire’s higher number of pixels per inch (216 versus 163), the ability to watch HD movies, which its competitor does not have, and dual stereo speakers rather than mono.
Apple launched its long-awaited and much-talked about iPad Mini at an event in California Oct. 23.
The device, which Apple’s website describes as “the whole package in a smaller package,” is a slightly redesigned version of the larger iPad. It features a 7.9-inch display — the three previous editions of the iPad boasted 9.7-inch displays.
“We took the time to create a product that was a concentration of, but not a reduction of, the original product,” Apple senior vice-president Phil Schiller said during his presentation of the product.
Schiller also took aim at rival seven-inch tablet makers, saying “they’ve failed miserably.” He described the iPad Mini as a superior product because it offers users a larger usable screen for Web surfing, but is still thinner and lighter than other tablets.
Schiller’s words may or may not have been directed at Amazon, but the e-commerce giant did not take his words lying down. Neither did Microsoft.
After the Windows 8 debuted Oct. 25, Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky referred “recreational tablets” being unable to compete with PCs. Although he did not name Apple’s new device outright, it was a thinly veiled reference to the iPad Mini.
A number of companies — Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon and Barnes & Noble to name a few — are going head-to-head as the holiday season approaches in a bid to dominate the mobile market. Tablet sales in particular are expected to be high.
Apple Launches Highly-Anticipated iPad Mini
Apple Orders 10M iPad Minis, but Suppliers Struggling to Meet Demand
Phone Wars: Technology Giants Try to Outdo Apple
Amazon’s Kindle to Compete With iPad
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