January 30th, 2010

Will the iPad kill the Kindle? With Amazon.com reporting higher than expected earnings for the fourth quarter, which can be attributed in part to the popularity of the Kindle – what will happen now that Apple’s new product has been released?

For those unfamiliar with the Kindle, it is a really cool electronic tablet that allows you to read hundreds of thousands of books or newspapers in electronic format.  Purchasing books for the Kindle is very simple, and those that love to read say that toting around the slim machine is far less cumbersome than lugging around print books.

Netbooks and the Kindle are two products that are threatened by the iPad.  While the Kindle is still far less expensive than the Apple iPad, the iPad still does  a lot more. With both products selling between $200 and $300 each, those in the market for both may find purchasing an iPad a more economical choice.

It will be interesting to see what happens to products such as the Kindle now that Apple will be in the same markets.  Where Kindle users download books from the Amazon.com Web site, iPad users would have access via iTunes.

Despite the challenges that the iPad will bring to netbooks and the Kindle, there are still some common complaints.  For one, the product will only run one application at a time (with the exception, of course, of running music and an app).