iPad or Kindle: Whats Good For You?

In quite a few ways, Apple’s iPad and iBooks announcement today was a shot across the bow of Amazon’s Kindle. Sure, Apple played nice, even saying that Amazon has done a “great job of pioneering” the e-book space, but you can’t help but think that Apple thinks of itself as the evolution of the Kindle, not mere competition. Steve Jobs says that Apple is going to “stand on their shoulders,” and that doesn’t sound quite as benign as perhaps he meant it. So, how do the devices stack up, specifically as book consuming devices? Well, for starters, one of these things costs a whole lot more than the other… let’s break it down after the break.


	iPad	Kindle 2	Kindle DX
Upfront cost	$499 / $629 (3G)	$259	$489
Screen size	9.7-inch	6-inch	9.7-inch
Screen resolution	1024 x 768	600 x 800	1200 x 824
Pixel density	132 ppi	167 ppi	150 ppi
Screen type	Color IPS LCD	16-level gray E Ink	16-level gray E Ink
Storage	16GB	2GB	4GB
Accelerometer	Yes	No	Yes
Music	Yes	Yes	Yes
Movies	Yes	No	No
Text-to-speech	Yes	Yes	Yes
PDF	Yes	Yes	Yes
ePub	Yes	No	No
Kindle books	Yes (Kindle app)	Yes	Yes
3G service cost	N/A / $15 / $30	Free	Free
3G networks	GSM / HSDPA (US)	EV-DO + HSDPA (World)	EV-DO + HSDPA (World)
Weight	1.5 pound	0.6 pound	1.2 pound
Thickness	0.53-inches	0.34-inches	0.38-inches
Battery	10 hours	1 week	1 week