As usual when Apple unveils a new and “upgraded” product, we had our fun with the iPad mini, the “thinner, lighter and cheaper” variant of the iPad that looked disappointing even for most faithful fanboys.
Ultimately, we have to admit though that the 7.9-incher is a gadget that will sell in big numbers, having aces up its sleeve to put it in front of the competition. Or does it? Well, we don’t want to appear too subjective, but we already told you why we think Apple’s new tablet is not a threat for budget-friendly Android slates, and now we have some proof to back that up.
According to official Amazon statements, “Wednesday was the $199 Kindle Fire HD’s biggest day of sales since launch and up 3x week over week.” Wednesday (October 24) was of course the first day after iPad mini’s announcement, so what Amazon is trying to elegantly say is that Apple messed things up so bad this time that many people expecting the smaller iPad changed their mind and went for the new Fire.
Unfortunately, as the Kindle makers are still too “shy” to share exact sales numbers of any of their products, we will never be able to verify this statement and we will also not know how Fire HD and iPad mini sales compare. More exactly, there’s still a solid chance that, even with this unexpected boost, Amazon’s 7-incher will have had its record sales pulverized by iPad mini pre-orders.
That “if” surrounding the statement’s veracity is also a pretty big one, with most of you being probably inclined to call shenanigans on the whole thing. I mean, it is pretty bizarre that we’re hearing about this in the midst of a major Amazon marketing campaign insisting on the Kindle Fire HD offering “much more for much less” than the iPad mini.
Not to mention that we would have guessed some people would have not been so eager to go for either the Fire HD or the iPad mini right before the Nexus 7 should be unveiled in new 32 GB and 3G “flavors”.
Are you calling shenanigans on Amazon? Do you think Fire HD numbers could have been boosted so high? Is the iPad mini such a major disappointment? Let us know what you think below.
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