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3-Way Price War On Black Friday: iPad, Nook, and Kindle

Posted by timothy on from the bunch-of-exploiters dept.

destinyland writes "Black Friday has touched off a three-way price war between Apple, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Kobo readers dropped their price to just $99 to compete with the Nook, only to discover that Barnes and Noble was lowering the price on their touchscreen Nooks to $79, to compete with the new $79 Kindle from Amazon. And meanwhile, Apple has announced aggressive pricing on all Apple products for Black Friday, reportedly including $100 off on MacBook and iMac products, and a $61 discount on the iPad 2."

14 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Price War? by BLT2112 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So this still leaves the iPad2 a few hundred dollars more expensive, right?

    1. Re:Price War? by alvinrod · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Against other products that aren't even in the same category, no less. Sure they can all read books, but that's like comparing sales prices for bicycles against cars because they can get you from point A to point B.

      Let's just tag this one "slownewsday" and move along.

    2. Re:Price War? by Guspaz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A few hundred dollars more expensive than what? The Galaxy Tab 10.1 16GB seems to be going for about $500 today, which is the same price as the iPad 2. You can't compare a 10" high-end tablet to a 7" budget tablet or e-reader, they're not the same class of device.

      People rag on apple for selling expensive products. The perception is largely because, while Apple's products are generally priced roughly the same as similarly spec'd products from their competitors, Apple doesn't typically sell low-end or budget devices. That is to say, their product lineup starts in the mid-range to high-end. So, they're expensive, yes, but not overpriced.

    3. Re:Price War? by metalmaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would mod you funny if i could, because you've gotta be kidding. The Kindle Fire is little more than an amazon portal that puts up the facade of being an android tablet. If you want a basic android offering that includes a web browser and limited media player by all means get a Kindle Fire. There is no way it can even compete with a tablet that offers an expandable SD slot, camera, mic and presumably android updates down the line.

      I work retail and I have had plenty of time to play with our display model. The UI is a bit too simple and it's content-focused. That's great if you plan to consume amazon content, but i'd rather have an android UI and navigation

    4. Re:Price War? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just make sure after you get it to come back to slashdot and respond to every anti-Apple post with anguished hostility.

      Or, you know, you could try one and have an informed position instead of just mindlessly slagging the product every time it's mentioned.

      My manager just bought his son's, because it wasn't compatible with the stuff he needed to do at school (Windows only class stuff). In a week he went from "meh, who cares" to "wow, I love this thing".

      Maybe people like them because they find them extremely useful?

      So far, mine hasn't led to the glamorous lifestyle you seem to suggest ... but I'm old, fat, and un-hip, so that wasn't ever going to happen anyway.

      But for business trips and being stuck on an airplane, it's an exceedingly useful thing. I can actually read my email from the airport wifi, and watch a movie on a screen much better than the one in the plane. Throw in eBooks, games, and a couple of other things, and I haven't used my laptop on a business trip in the last 7 trips I've made. Despite claims to the contrary, a netbook would not fill the same niche because it's still a clamshell with a keyboard. My iPad is about the size of a book.

      Go to the lobby bar of a hotel in a business district, and count the number of people with iPads ... and then look at them and see if you think they're hipsters who have these things for fashion purposes.

      I haven't used one, but I suspect what I say is true of any tablet ... it really is a nice form-factor.

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      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    5. Re:Price War? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh the irony!!!

      Well, since there's neither anguish nor hostility, not so much with the irony.

      But seeing people on Slashdot mindlessly say "Apple is teh suxor" is about as intelligent as saying it about Microsoft or Linux without having used them ... it's generally an uninformed opinion based on what people think they know as opposed to anything factual.

      But, hey, all Linux fanboys are smelly virgins who live in their mom's basement, and all Windows fanboys must be corporate shills who don't know better ... right?

      Or we could act like adults.

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      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  2. Playbook as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The Blackberry Playbook has it's price slashed, and it is a signal of the end.

    Android/Apple price slash - PRICE WAR!

  3. Give it a rest by artor3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's not a price war. The Kindle dropped their prices a while ago, not as part of some Black Friday promotion. And the iPad is in a completely different class of devices. I guess you might say that they're offering the sale to dissuade people from getting the Kindle Fire this Christmas, but the more likely scenario is that all of these are just standard Black Friday deals. This is less of a story and more like one of those snail mail sales flyers they spam out every week.

    But hey, it will give all the fanboys a reason to argue over which device is best, which I suppose was the whole point.

    1. Re:Give it a rest by Spad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Everything is a war these days, every new product an [other product]-killer; people don't disagree with someone, they "slam" them or "destroy" them.

      Let's face it, if it's not totally over the top and blown out of all proportion, very few sections of the media will care enough to publish it.

  4. The iPad Wins by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'm going to tell you guys an important secret: nobody except nerds wants a non-iPad tablet. Everybody wants the iPad, and if you buy somebody a different tablet, they will be secretly angry about you. You can nerd-rage about this all you want, but it is true. As has been said before: there is not a tablet market, there is an iPad market.

  5. Funny - yes - but true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Guys; the above, although funny, is exactly the business and marketing explanation for Apple products. Another example of this marketing a "lifestyle" is Harley Davidson Motorcycles. I'm just surprised Apple hasn't gotten into logo'd apparel yet.

    Saint Steven Jobs was the greatest salesmen and marketer that has ever existed. And I'd dare say, St. Jobs will be the best that will ever be.

    1. Re:Funny - yes - but true by Bogtha · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the above, although funny, is exactly the business and marketing explanation for Apple products

      It's really not. This is the excuse trotted out when somebody wants to flame Apple or Apple fanboys, but it really doesn't hold up to the slightest scrutiny. Take a look at their ads. They are all about what you can do with the devices. They are renown for focusing on what you can do with the devices.

      Do you really believe that Apple is managing to brainwash people? That there isn't a more plausible explanation, such as the fact that they see an ad showing people using the devices in ways that appeal to them and want to buy them? That people try the competition and are less than thrilled, so they opt for the premium product that does what they want instead? If you really believe that marketing brainwashing is a more plausible explanation than that, I'm afraid you're the one who's brainwashed.

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      Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  6. Re:Kindle Touch is still at $99 by willoughby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Amazon missed the boat on one feature. With my Nook Touch I can hold it in one hand and press the hardware buttons on either side to turn the pages. With no hardware page-turn buttons on the Kindle touch you must tap or swipe the screen to turn a page, so it takes two hands to read a book. But, maybe I'm the only person who sometimes holds their e-reader with one hand.

  7. Re:Kindle Touch is still at $99 by steveha · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I got the Nook Simple Touch because I really wanted a physical button for turning pages. I have been quite happy with the device.

    My Nook is currently on loan to my father, whose hands shake a bit. He has real trouble with any touchscreen device; touchscreens are designed to do things when you touch them, and with his hands shaking he keeps doing things he didn't mean to do. With the Nook Simple Touch he can hold his hands on the bezel and use the hardware buttons to flip pages. (He's still having some trouble with it, but I think once he gets used to it he won't have any more trouble. But any device without hardware buttons is ruled out for him.)

    Also, I really like the way Barnes and Noble designed their Nooks to take standard protective covers. You can choose from a variety of covers, with various features and colors and price points. I got a simple cover that can be secured with a permanently-attached elastic band, so that if I throw it in a backpack, the cover will stay closed.

    I paid $140 for my Nook and I am satisfied that it was money well spent. I might just go pick up one of the $80 ones tomorrow.

    steveha

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