A new ad from Amazon pokes fun at the outdoor viewing capabilities of devices like the iPad while highlighting the low price of the third-generation Kindle.
The ad, which Geoffrey Fowler of the Wall Street Journal compares to the award-winning "Get a Mac" campaign, depicts a man trying to read an iPad-like device by the side of a pool. Unable to read, he asks the woman next to him how she is able to read her device in "this light."
"It's a Kindle. 139 dollars. I actually paid more for these sunglasses," the 'Kindle gal' says.
The ad's sunglasses comment refers to a quote from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos during an interview. "At $139, some people spend more than that for their sunglasses," Bezos told journalist Charlie Rose in July.
During the interview, Bezos denied that he was worried about Apple's competing iPad, asserting that the iPad and Kindle can co-exist in a "multi-device world."
"The evidence is very clear that Kindle is a companion to tablet computers," Bezos said.
Amazon's Kindle, which debuted in 2007, utilizes E Ink display technology to allow users to read without the eye strain that often occurs when reading from LCD backlit displays.
When Apple's iPad was first announced, complete with its own iBooks digital bookstore, it was immediately labeled as a "Kindle killer." Just days after the iPad announcement, Bezos reassured investors in a quarterly earnings call, saying Amazon had sold "millions" of Kindles.
Despite the runaway success of the iPad, which sold its own "million" in just 28 days, Apple struggled early on to get publishers' content on the iPad. Pre-existing contracts with Amazon reportedly prevented publishers from putting their content on competing devices such as the iPad.