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Amazon hits the iPad Air with a new commercial mocking Jony Ive

From 9to5Google:

kindle-fire-hdx-vs-ipad-mini

Amazon has never shied away from quietly mocking Apple’s iPad and that’s why this new Kindle Fire HDX commercial (via Amazon YouTube) and its distinctly British voice has us laughing. Calling it the “magical new iPad Air” in proper British tongue, the commercial is offset with the American accented intro of the 8.9″ Kindle Fire HDX.

Amazon’s fake Jony Ive and his American accented counterpart note the Kindle Fire’s 20% difference in weight, a million more pixels separating the Kindle Fire display from the Air and the cost of $379 for the 16GB Fire against Apple’s 16GB at $499. Somehow, this commercial doesn’t bother me even if it’s a really laughable attempt to mock Jony Ive when I compare this marketing against Microsoft’s ridiculous “Scroogled campaign.” All things considered, Amazon is fighting a fair fight and a parody is one way to go about doing that.

All things considered, I’d much rather see a parody than have Microsoft continue to play on our NSA-style fears and attempt to convince the world that somehow, someway Google is really concerned about emails to my great Aunt.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhTl00uili4&w=640&h=390]

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Comments

  1. Arnaud Nelissen - 10 years ago

    But the Amazon’s Appstore counts nearly 100 000 apps. The Apple Appstore actually counts 1000% more apps than Amazon’s.

    • iTube855 - 10 years ago

      Well, perhaps the Kindle Fire had a rough selling start for the black Friday holiday weekend.
      Amazon may feels a need to turn on the marketing machine. This Amazon commercial is at least a bit better than the Microsoft Commercials although I don’t think it will make much of a difference.

      • Felipe Milanez Gasparino - 10 years ago

        Way better than MS one. That one is awkward and pointless. The amazon made me laugh on the iPad even tho I would never go for the KindleFire. #goIpadGo

  2. Lucus Bendzsa - 10 years ago

    iPad Air is a 10 inch tablet while that Kindle is 8.9inch. really yeah it should be lighter compare te 8.9 to the mini

    • Blain Bertrand - 10 years ago

      Thats what I was gonna say. The HDX is an 8.9 inch tablet just like the iPad Mini so actually its not lighter nor does it cost less than iPad Mini. What a joke Amazon!

  3. rogifan - 10 years ago

    If this is a parody it’s a really lame attempt, especially with that really fake British accent. Plus aren’t these Jony Ive parodies getting a little old now? They might have been funny at one point in time, but now they’re just boring.

    • Paul Threatt - 10 years ago

      Using a British accent is a well known way to make someone in a scenario seem like they have a superiority complex. I don’t think they’re mocking Ive at all. I think they’re just challenging the superiority of the iPad and reinforcing the idea with stereotypes about accents. Ive never talks price. The Kindle can’t compete on processing power. Amazon’s just trying to tear down the king. That means poking at British accents.

      • rogifan - 10 years ago

        Regardless it’s still lame to use a British accent. The last thing people think about Apple is that it’s some stuffy company with its nose in the Air.

  4. Sander Meert - 10 years ago

    That’s definitely not a fair comparison video because the iPad Air is a lot bigger than the Kindle fire. And it’s from aluminum not cheap plastic…

    • Dominic Evans (@TheDom82) - 10 years ago

      I’ve had both the HDX 8.9 and the iPad Air. The iPad Air is NOT that much bigger than the HDX 8.9″ tablet to tablet. Screen wise, yes. But the HDX 8.9 has HUGE bezels…so the footprint of the tablet is not significantly smaller than the iPad Air’s. As to the weight difference, it’s far over blown in that commercial. The HDX 8.9 is 13.2 ounces. The iPad Air is 16 ounces (1 lb). When I bought my iPad Air, I sent my HDX 8.9 back. The iPad is just FAR superior.

  5. Its also significantly smaller (no shit its lighter), slower and has vastly inferior apps rendering the thing to be just a glorified media player. They forgot to mention these facts in the ad.

    Fun fact: last year Amazons tablet had a lower res display (which somehow seems to be the only factor defining display quality) and their yearly iPad bashing ad went something like: “Its cheaper, and display wise you probably won’t even see the difference”. What happened there, amazon? Sudden change of your philosophy?

  6. acslater017 - 10 years ago

    I wouldn’t recommend an HDX to a friend, but the ad is classy enough and fair as far as comparison ads go. The British accent alone doesn’t warrant the “mocking Jony I’ve” headline though. Kind of sensationalist.

  7. jimgramze - 10 years ago

    When a display is finer than the eye can see then you are losing information. Why does no one ever mention that in the context of displays? If a screen were double the finest the user can see then they are losing half the visual information. That is a negative, not a feature.

    If all you care about is price then buy the cheapest. If all you care about is quality then buy the best.

    One telling point is when a company puts another product down instead of promoting the features of their own. This is a statement that that company’s product is not as good and is losing in the marketplace. If people are stupid enough to not see that then they deserve what they get; in this case, an ad riddled crippled Android device that is a front for the Amazon store.

    • Matt Davis - 10 years ago

      No one mentions the screen because no one can tell the difference. No android screen is double as good as the comparable iPhone or iPad screen. As an informed consumer, then, you surely recognize an iPad mini has a better screen than, say,the Nexus 7, but the Nexus 7 is $170 cheaper. How important to you is price? Because that is what Google is banking on.

  8. Jeff DeMaagd - 10 years ago

    20% lighter, 20% smaller screen area. Funny how that works.

    It’s kind of sad that the Apple competition and Apple haters have switched from saying that “retina” resolution higher than anyone can see to being not enough.

    I do get tired of Apple’s cheesy superlatives. “magical” my ass. Yes, the products are nice, but the superlatives feel so manipulative.

    • Bill Kroll - 10 years ago

      Apple hasn’t used the word “Magical” since the very first iPad intro by Steve Jobs. Stop acting like they are still using it or terms like it unless you have a better example that isn’t 3-4 years old. When something is brand spanking new you can use superlatives…. marketing is marketing. These days its just the newer, thinner, lighter iPad Air.

      Amazon is just plain stupid here, but whatever. They whip out a rig that is closer to the iPad mini then do a direct comparison on size/weight and dpi to the larger iPad Air. Hey when it comes to marketing there are basically little rules, you do what you have to do, but this is laughable to compare 2 dissimilar products and declare yourself the winner.

      Compared to the iPad Mini the HDX is thoroughly trounced…. and thats without even getting into app quality and quantity, and Apple not raping you with ads.

      • Jeff DeMaagd - 10 years ago

        OK, so “magical” isn’t being used now, but my overall complaint holds. For example, the new slogan “the power of lightness” is Zoolander-esque.

  9. Whats really fun, is that these companies never hit on each other. Its always the iPad / iPhone and wonder why. They know, that apple is superior.
    And one more thing.. “bad” publicity is better than no publicity.

  10. pika2000 (@pika2000) - 10 years ago

    Yeah, if you buy a tablet only for the hardware and don’t use it, the Kindle seems to be a better value. Once you want to use it, the Kindle’s value drops significantly. The iPad has more and better apps, plus you can still enjoy Amazon’s content on the iPad, in addition to contents from other services.

  11. Will Carroll - 10 years ago

    The American voice is Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. He’s done all the Kindle commercials.

  12. It seems nowadays no-one can make a smartphone or tablet commercial without mentioning Apple.

  13. Laughing_Boy48 - 10 years ago

    $379 vs $499 is enough for most consumers to go with the Kindle Fire HDX without even a second thought. That’s a quick savings of $120 that almost no amount of technology can overcome in the minds of most consumers. It’s also one of the biggest reasons why Amazon’s share gains is running rings around Apple’s share gains this year. Wall Street loves companies that sell cheap products to consumers. To Wall Street a Kindle Fire HDX is seen as just as good as an iPad Air except for the fact that a Kindle Fire HDX is $120 less in price. In other words, a lower price is all that really matters in the commercial. The difference in weight and pixel count are superfluous.

    • rettun1 - 10 years ago

      Truth

    • Michael Scrip - 10 years ago

      — “$379 vs $499 is enough for most consumers to go with the Kindle Fire HDX without even a second thought.” —

      So you’re saying the Kindle Fire will outsell the iPad because of its lower price.

      For the record… the Kindle Fire has always been cheaper than the iPad. And yet… the iPad dominates the Kindle Fire in sales.

      Last Christmas quarter… Apple sold 22 million iPads. How many Kindle Fires were sold?

      I think you’ll be disappointed about which tablets most consumers go with…

    • Andrew Paul Moulton - 10 years ago

      “It’s also one of the biggest reasons why Amazon’s share gains is running rings around Apple’s share gains this year.” Lord jesus no, their tablet sales are not making them money like that. They (obviously) have coals in many, many other fires.

    • liquidwolverine1 - 10 years ago

      Interestingly, it’s $120 cheaper, yet Apple still run rings around kindle and other tablets in sales.

    • We need to compare apples with apples. Ipad Mini Retina should be compared with Kindle Fire HDX, as only those both are of comparable sizes. iPad Air is much bigger than Kindle Fire HDX. If you compare ipad mini retina’s price here, its just $20 less than iPad Mini retina. Now say if its worth saving ?

  14. Nashwan Peter - 10 years ago

    Lets do a a performance test and see which one wins? The iPad Air has 2048 by 1536, MiMo (Multiple In and out) which means 2 times faster WIFI, A7 which super fast, M7 co-processor,almost half million apps have been written specifically for the iPad and the ecosystems that come with the iPad.

  15. Ronald Nelson (@Dlanorx) - 10 years ago

    They never show the two, side by side. I wonder why?

  16. They never mentioned the battery life of the Kindle. Is it anywhere close to the 10 hours you easily get on an iPad?

  17. Andrea Mondello - 10 years ago

    I actually prefer the iPad Air one hundred times over any Kindle Fire but the ad made me chuckle. Well played!

  18. rob nienburg (@robogobo) - 10 years ago

    These commercials only help Apple by leading viewers to obvious questions about performance, battery life and software differences.

  19. Kevweb (@kweb75) - 10 years ago

    Sir Jony Ive and the Kindle looks like the first iPad.

  20. abdulwahab16 - 10 years ago

    All the companies bought the iPad air

  21. We need to compare apples with apples. Ipad Mini Retina should be compared with Kindle Fire HDX, as only those both are of comparable sizes. iPad Air is much bigger than Kindle Fire HDX. If you compare ipad mini retina’s price here, its just $20 less than iPad Mini retina.

  22. b9bot - 10 years ago

    Laugh away, the iPad Air will outsell that cheap copy tablet by 10 to 1 or more. And by the way that’s Sir Jony Ive to you Amazon. Amazon has hit a new low by copying Samdung commercials that will only drive customers away even more from there products. Apple and Sir Jony Ive thank you Amazon.

  23. J.R. Shultz - 10 years ago

    is it me or does the American voice sound very much like Jeff Daniels who used to do the Apple commercials in 2012?