New Survey Shows Huge Wave of Apple iPad Demand Striking Amazon

[Teddman]

If I had to pick between a Kindle and an iPad, it would be a pretty easy choice for me, even though I'm not an Apple fan. Perhaps if the Kindle were $100 or less, I'd be more convinced.

Exactly.

AMAZON MUST CUT

I don't think they can get it down to under $100, but $199 is a magical price point for the mass market and they should target that as soon as possible.

[rmm200]

This is all really sort of silly. I am quite willing to wait 3 months and see how it plays out, rather than make guesses about what folks will do.

Also shows how worthless I think surveys like this are. At least it keeps the pollsters employed.

Robert

[Dopedangel]

Most people are talking about ereaders getting hit but I think it will be handheld gaming & media consoles that will be hit the most.
A lot of people like bashing market leaders like Ipod, Iphone, Kindle or someone like J K Rowling or Stephenie Meyer for not being good enough
but me I am thankful to them although I will never buy an Iphone or Kindle but because of them other devices have come up that to me are better but would never have existed if they had not created a market for them.
Same with J K Rowling or Meyer because of them I think millions of more people got into reading fiction. That means more buyers meaning more writers meaning more books.

[Booky McGee]

Seems to me like the iPad will be nothing but a positive* for Amazon even if it cuts into their hardware sales. They already have an iPod/iPhone app, so they have the opportunity for ebook sales without having to rely on their own hardware.

I don't know all the details on the iBookstore, but if it follows the example of the iTunes music and app store, there are no re-downloads of previously purchased items. If that is the case, other bookstores have a feature gap they can exploit. Amazon has that whispersync cloud bookmark feature too, which would be a plus for anyone that has more than one platform that reads Kindle books.

*(the Kindle DX is probably a dead duck though)

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by Booky McGee

I don't know all the details on the iBookstore, but if it follows the example of the iTunes music and app store, there are no re-downloads of previously purchased items.

Actually, you can redownload purchased apps if you should lose them. You don't need to repurchase them.

[Nakor]

Well, if my options are between a Kindle and an iPad, it's likely that I choose to go without either lol. There's no way I would have paid that much to enter the world of eReaders -- in fact, even had I the money to spare, I'm just not sure eReader devices really warrant that high of a price. And I have been known not to buy things if I feel the price is too high, even if it's well within my means.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by Tamara

Actually, you can redownload purchased apps if you should lose them. You don't need to repurchase them.

Exactly and not only can you re-download you can re-download to multiple devices on that one account, I'm at 3 devices that I can share one paid app on at the moment, lot of places don't allow even that!
eg me and my dad would have to both buy a 360 game and the 360 download games wont even work on both of my own 360's!

Lots of people are still making statements about how the uninformed buying ipads will be suprised when they cant do X or Y, yet seem pretty eager to guess at things taht we dont know yet or just say stuff that isnt true!

majority of websites wont work, people will have to view mobile versions of websites, you cant use a stylus, apples books will be more expensive than other peoples... etc etc

I think many people will be suprised by just how big this device gets.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by stustaff

...

I think many people will be suprised by just how big this device gets.

or not.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by kennyc

or not.

well yeh I thought that went without saying?, those who believe its going to be big of course wont be suprised.

[petermillard]

Originally Posted by Nakor

There's no way I would have paid that much to enter the world of eReaders...

Really? I'm pretty sure I paid iPad money (or close to) for my first e-ink reader - a Cybook Gen 3, bought sight unseen a few years ago after some fine advice from this forum. It was a step up (or maybe just sideways) from the PDA I was using, and I liked it well enough to buy another for my wife, and she a Sony 505 (for the content) again, for a not dissimilar price.

Sooner or later, you have to just take a deep breath and jump in if you want to try something; you have to accept there will be a cost. Money, time - sometimes both.

Either way I don't regret a penny I've spent on eReader devices or eBooks.

Cheers, Pete.

[kennyc]

True Pete. I just spent almost that Ipad predicted cost on my Sony 900.

[fugazied]

Originally Posted by Teddman

I'm a bit surprised that Amazon hasn't preemptively acted to entice customers into buying a Kindle before the iPad comes out.

A price cut to $199 for the Kindle 2 would spike sales up quite a bit, especially if they also threw in a few free books. And the Kindle DX certainly needs to drop by at least $100, it just looks silly pricing it at the same level as the basic iPad.

I'm very suprised about this too. As soon as iPad was announced they should have cut prices by 25% on the Kindle DX at least. They have a more evenly based battle when Amazon launch their mirasol color screen readers (if rumors are true), but until then the DX will get destroyed by iPad sales.

When comparing those 2 devices the ONLY reason you might want to go for a DX is a love of all things Amazon or reading on an LCD screen hurts your eyes. The feature set of the iPad is far beyond the Kindle imo when they are at basically the same price.