Amazon Kindle ads are rare. Until September 12, 2010, the most well-known Kindle ads come from the Kindle commercial contest. A new commercial from Amazon showing two poolside people reading ebooks illustrates how reflective a shiny an Apple iPad screen is in comparison to the Amazon Kindle, but the comments reveal how people use and perceive ebooks.
September 13, 2010 Kindle Pool Ad
The official Kindle channel uploaded the New Kindle Pool Ad on September 13, 2010. In the 30 second ad, two people are reading next to the pool, and the iPad owner can't see his book because of his own reflection. The Kindle shows the page perfectly, and the owner mentions that it cost less than her sunglasses.
- Manmatt321 wrote an Apple-friendly sequel. "After this scene the? guy is reading his iPad in a dark room and the girl asks how he's able to read? with little to no-light and he comments its back-lit and it can also play movies."
- Shantonu9 was one of several people who took issue with the iPad owner not knowing what a Kindle was. "If this? guy had any moves he would have said, "what are you reading on that." But no, he's got an ipad..."
It is the nature of Youtube to have multiple people uploading the same videos, and somehow xtreme404 beat the official Kindle channel at uploading their own commercial.
Fans Bicker over iPad vs. Kindle Commercial
The Amazon Kindle Evil Disturbing!! ad is the same commercial on the Kindle channel, but the ad has provoked more bickering between Kindle and iPad fans. It takes longer to read the comments than it does to watch the commercial. The most interesting debate centers around the backlight of the Apple, for example:
ThMaSh625 says, "I bet you can't read kindle at night." Chellegame immediately responds, "You do realize? that before tablets and laptops, people read at night all the time using, you know, lights, and it was better for your eyes."
It is interesting how the merits of the devices are debated with something bordering trash-talk. Chug20 writes, "Seriously, your tiny black and gray screen is somehow cooler than my large full color screen? Keep dreaming."
People are even tweeting about the new Amazon Kindle commercial. iAreTimmy tweeted, "Now Amazon is claiming the iPad doesn’t have an ambient light sensor and auto-brightness? So low." What is most interesting is that in July, Jeff Bezos told Fortune that Kindle and iPad two are not natural competitors because they are in different device categories, but this ad changes that by Amazon acknowledging the iPad as an ebook reader, albeit one of the indoor variety.
Sources
- Comments from Youtube users were accessed on September 13, 2010 at the Kindle ad videos highlighted in this article.
- "Jeff Bezos's Mission: Compelling Small Publishers to Think Big" by P Mangalindan was published on June 29, 2010 by Fortune.
- Tweets were accessed on September 13, 2010 on Twitter.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
