Since Amazon doesn't release their sales numbers, they truly can say whatever they want. This article is useless to readers, but quite effective *free* advertising for Amazon. Don't be suckers MacNN....

Return rate will be 5x higher. I guarantee it.

Say what you will, but price is a strong selling point.

People around my work-places were waiting to see what Apple's price-point would be before purchasing devices for the Christmas season. Basically, from what I can see, Apple missed their pricing "sweet-spot" by only $30. I realize $30 isn't actually isn't a lot of money, but a lot of people, at least those in my area, were hoping for $299 and have decided to go Kindle instead.

I agree, panjandrum! People would've paid the premium for the iPad mini at $299 but $329 just seems to be a bit too much (if only psychologically) when there are so many other alternatives out in this classification. Sure the mini has its advantages but it has its disadvantages too when you measure it up to Kindles, Nexus and others..enough so for many to not see the value in paying substantially more. >> http://mostly-tech.com/2012/10/23/ten-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-buy-a-ipad-mini/

For 330 GPS should have been included.

I'm surprised that people expected Apple to compete on price with Googles Nexus and Amazons Kindle Fire line. Both of those manufacturers are selling their tablets *at a loss*, hoping to make up for it in media sales / advertising. Apples business model has always been to make money on the hardware itself.

My Kindle Paper White "without offers" (which cost extra) has advertisements (offers) for books on the home screen. I prefer an eReader for books. At least with the iPad I have control and am willing to pay extra. I 'm sticking with iPad as my tablet because I am not sure if I will be held hostage for getting a "deal" from the other two vendors.

Look like these 7" tablets aren't so much of a "failure" as you want people to believe, eh Schiller? Keep spinning that RDF...

This is just terrible journalism, due to its purely speculative nature. Since we don't know the sales trends for the Kindle Fire, it may be normal for there to be wild swings in the daily sales numbers. Also, the reason may have had more to do with it being payday than anything to do with the iPad mini. I'm not saying that a relative handful of people didn't a wait and see on the iPad mini and then instead opted to buy the Kindle Fire, but a three times increase might have been 300 sold instead of 100. I'm going to make an educated guess that that number of iPad minis sold far outstripped Kindle Fire sales for the day and week.

The timing of the sales surge could suggest that consumers were waiting for what Apple would reveal in the iPad mini, and after not seeing what they were expecting to be revealed, opted for Amazon's offering instead.

Originally Posted by wrenchy

Look like these 7" tablets aren't so much of a "failure" as you want people to believe, eh Schiller? Keep spinning that RDF...

You obviously have access to sales numbers that nobody else does, eh?

Wrenchy - reading comprehension. It's your friend.

You know that Amazon lost hundreds of millions last quarter? Both the Google and Amazon tablets (so far) are sold at cost or even below. Amazon and Google build their Fires and Nexuses with the idea that they'll suck customers from Apple by making money for the Amazon store and for Google's advertisers. Imagine if all you PC conservatives had ads every twenty seconds paying for your Office Suite. They're nice tablets, But every company makes things to make money. So, the browser will go to the Amazon store very well. It's made to give more business to Amazon. As a giveaway. For Google, they give the software away because they make money on the other end. To me this is a lack of privacy: the Walmart-ization of the Internet. Well, it's not that great, and the store policemen follow you around, but it's cheap! These tablets are promotional devices.

To me, buying something as sophisticated as a computer, cellphone or tablet means it's a device I want to have. Yes, Apple made the Apple Store, and they sell files of all kinds there. Mostly, it's 3rd party, and Apple's taking a cut. But you buy an iPad for the fact that -- have you seen the Google results pages lately? At the beginning, Google got our search because it worked much better and it didn't louse up your "home page" with all that junk. Blinking cursor in the empty slot. Waiting for you. No ads at the beginning. Then a couple of discreet things in the corner you could ignore. Now the ad results try to hide themselves with the other results, And tons of screwed up SEO. An ad-supported platform. Selling advertisers your deep data.

Now, I grew up in the television years. I remember when they were bringing in "pay tv"; it started at about $20 a month. Spend a little money, and you don't have to have a constant barrage of ads! Movies without commercial interruption! That lasted maybe five years, and then the ads crept in. Now we have "hundreds" of "networks" -- bull. We have hundreds of businesses with a small number of cheap shows to run, over and over. That's not a channel. And then, tune into one of

Now, if that low a price is most important to you, fine. I'll take the iPad mini. I can do everything that the HD says, and more. And the ecosystem isn't ad-ad-ad. And the makers enjoy designing it and they make a few bucks.

And then, we don't know if this isn't just something made up by Amazon PR. Yes, before the release of the Apple mini tablet, I'm sure that tablet sales went down (from where to where?), and then Amazon sold some more tablets after people saw the cheaper move was better for them. Sure. But I'll take the iPad, thanks. A 2cv is fun, and it might be good for you, but isn't a Porsche.