iPad Fortune: Kindle vs. iPad: Far from over

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Just stating the facts. There are plenty of older folks who are very tech savvy, use iPods etc.
But apple clearly doesn't focus on them in the marketing as the ads are always full of young people, current music popular among younger people etc. as that's the bread and butter of their market.

Maybe when iTunes & iPods was just for music, it was mostly younger people using it. I'm on 2 audiobook forums where the majority of the books are from Audible.com. Most of the members use an iPod or iPhone and most of them are older.

Just in case someone doesn't know... If you buy and download a book from Audible.com, it is automatically added to your iTunes library. Not so hard for the older less tech savvy demographic.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Just stating the facts. There are plenty of older folks who are very tech savvy, use iPods etc.

But apple clearly doesn't focus on them in the marketing as the ads are always full of young people, current music popular among younger people etc. as that's the bread and butter of their market.

Yeah, but that's the ad agencies. They know we all think we are still young.

"I may look like Robert Frost, but I feel just like...Jesse James."

I rather think that a large part of the iPad focus is going to be on us mature types. The iPad, in some respects, the Touch for grownups.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by dragonbone

Not so hard for the older less tech savvy demographic.

Bah. I'm the oldest in my family, being The Dad. Five sons, the youngest 18. I do the tech. Two of them have caught up with me, the other three eat my dust.

[spec2]

Originally Posted by kjk

It's not even the first quarter. People are still buying popcorn and snacks, and lingering out in the parking lot.

Yeah, but there are some games destine to be so lopsided it's not even worth making the bet. The Kindle, at least as we know it, is not long for this world. I give it another year. It's done b/c Amazon can't compete Apple on so many levels - hardware design, software design, marketing buzz, retail stores where people can actually play with an iPad, the existing Touch/iPhone app base, the established iTunes store, and the multifunctional of the iPad.

The Kindle does one thing, and does it well. The iPad is not marketed as an eReader, it's sold as a multimedia appliance that has a book reader app. It won't be as good of a reader as the Kindle, but good enough considering everything else it does and has the potential to do.

The bettor's choice: a $260 device w/ 2GB that displays books and plays MP3s vs. a $499 color 16GB device that displays books, magazines, newspapers, plays video, lets you browse the web, play games, edit Word docs and Excel spreadsheets, and a host of other things via apps. It's the equivalent the Saints vs Rams. Ref hasn't blown the whistle yet, but we know how its gonna end just the same.

I've been using a Sony 505 for a few years and love it, but I'm guessing when I get my iPad I probably won't be taking my 505 or my laptop with me on many trips anymore. I understand the screen won't be ideal for hours of reading, but then again how many active people have time to read for hours? On the flipside, I would never want to edit a report on an eInk display -- not even for 30 min.