Since Apple put Mac vs PC out to pasture, allowing Mitchell and Webb to go back to making sketch shows that are infinitely less funny than Peep Show and Justin Long to pop up in irksome romantic comedies with Cameron Diaz, there’s been a gap in the market. Thank the gods of advertising then that Amazon has introduced iPad guy and his smug, expensive-sunnies-wearing nemesis Kindle Girl. Once again gadget warfare has a face but does Amazon have the firepower to take on the iPad?
Poor old iPad Guy, he’s strutted out to the sun loungers to read his iBooks beside the pool but calamity! He’s just discovered that the reflection on the screen means he’s mainly peering at his own handsome mug. Then he notices the delectable Kindle Girl beside him. It’s got an e-ink screen so she can reread The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo unbothered by visions of her own sunglasses-clad bonce.
Congratulations Amazon, you’ve created an ad which highlights one big selling point of the new Kindle over the iPad. But the trouble is, it’s like comparing a socket wrench with a Swiss Army Knife. The Kindle is the king of ebook readers but the iPad just handles iBooks as one of its party tricks and focusing on its trouble in direct sunlight is ultimately a pretty desperate shot. If you’re after something to read in the sun there’s another great option: it’s called a book.
As an ebook reader, then the new Kindle is an affordable and attractive option but not that many people do want such a limited device. Kindle Girl won’t feel so smug when she sees iPad guy watching a film, checking his emails or wiling away a few minutes battling with Angry Birds. But then quite frankly, both of them will seem a little sad to the people who are just playing in the pool and left their expensive electronic kit locked safely in their hotel room.
Apple are at their most irritating when they take potshots at their rivals and the new Kindle ad makes the same mistake. In fact, all tech firms end up looking a little foolish when they fire salvos at competitors instead of focusing on their own strengths (see the Nokia Apple attack this morning). The What Is iPad ads are better than the pseudo-comedy of Mac vs PC because they stick to showing off what makes the iPad worth picking up.
Kindle Girl tells iPad Guy that her ebook reader costs less than her sunglasses but the two objects are pretty similar in the end; stylish but single use. The iPad isn’t great in direct sunlight but no device is perfect – however much Apple fans boys might tell you that every slab of milled aluminium that flies out of Jony Ive’s labs is a work of genius – and it’s clearly got the jump on Amazon. If Kindle Girl was such a common sight, Amazon would stop being so coy and release some sales figures…
Disagree? Hit the comments and have at it.
