Amazon.com Inc is rolling up its sleeves in its fight to convince consumers that its Kindle electronic reader is better than competing devices such as Apple’s iPad, unveiling more aggressive advertising that is accentuating a growing rivalry.
In a Kindle commercial aired on TV and uploaded on Monday to Amazon’s Kindle channel on YouTube, the online retailer shows a man and a woman lounging beside a pool in the sun.
The man, dressed in a white T-shirt and gray shorts, looks vexedly at a thin, dark, unlabeled tablet device — presumably an iPad — while trying to shield its shiny screen from the sun.
The man asks the woman, who is clad in a black bikini and sunglasses and reading on a Kindle, how she’s able to read in such bright sunlight. Presumably his tablet has an LCD screen, which is tougher to read in the sun than an e-ink screen like that on Amazon’s e-reader.
Smiling, the woman answers, “It’s a Kindle — US$139. I actually paid more for these sunglasses.”
Amazon sells a US$139 a version of the device that can wirelessly download books over Wi-Fi; a version with 3G and Wi-Fi costs US$189.
Still smiling, she returns to her reading, while the man looks somewhat dejectedly at his tablet device.
The commercial marks a tactical change for Amazon, whose earlier Kindle commercials often featured cheerful indie tunes and stop-motion camera work, with no references to competing products such as tablet computers or other e-readers.
While the Kindle is meant mainly for reading, Apple Inc’s popular iPad, which starts at US 499, is a touch-screen-enabled multimedia device that can be used to read e-books (such as those purchased from Apple’s iBookstore), surf the Web and more. Though more expensive than the Kindle, the iPad’s versatility has drawn in many consumers.
But the iPad’s success can also be good for Amazon, too, since Amazon offers free Kindle applications for numerous devices, including the iPad, that can be used to read Kindle e-books.
Apple spokesman Steve Dowling and Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener declined to comment on the new ad.
E-reading is just one of several markets in which Seattle-based Amazon and Cupertino, California-based Apple compete.
They also come up against each other in video and music downloads.
Earlier this month, Apple announced a new US$99 version of its Apple TV television set-top box that lets people rent TV shows from a number of major networks for US$0.99.
The same day, Amazon started selling shows from several of the same networks for US$0.99 each to own, not just rent.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)