Tablets are sure to be some of the most popular gifts this holiday season. Both Apple’s new iPad Air and Amazon’s latest tablet, the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, will be atop a lot of gift lists. The iPad is the most popular tablet today, and the Air will help Apple continue its dominance in the market.
Although it’s been looking like an iPad Christmas, Amazon really wants to sell more Kindle Fire HDX tablets so to that end, here’s Jeff Bezos’s newest pitch:
Buy a Kindle Fire HDX tablet today, and we’ll give you nine months to finish paying for it.
Amazon started pushing its installment plan program this weekend, by splashing the offer on its home page.
The basics: It is letting customers pay for its $229 Kindle Fire HDX seven-inch tablet, or its $379 8.9-inch version, in four-part installment plans. Customers shell out 25 percent of the purchase price — plus tax and shipping charges – when they buy the tablet, and then spread out the remaining three payments in 90-day increments.
There aren’t a lot of catches with the offer — for instance, Amazon isn’t adding any interest charges to its installment plan. But there is one interesting twist spelled out in the relatively fine print: If you don’t cough up the rest of the money, Amazon may semi-brick your tablet: “Our remedies will include the right to deregister your Kindle Fire HDX device, which will block your ability to access Amazon content from your Kindle Fire HDX device.
The new Kindle Fire upped Amazon’s tablet game, and it outshines the iPad in a number of ways:
Amazon Prime Movies/TV and Offline Viewing
One of the best things about Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets is their integration with Amazon’s content ecosystem and services. And perhaps the most noteworthy content feature is Amazon Prime subscribers’ ability to download Instant Videos for offline viewing.
Amazon Mayday Tech Support vs Apples Genius Bar
Apple has a fancy, modern-looking retail store located in your city or local mall. Its Genius Bar, or service area within the stores, helped redefined tech customer service during the past few years. But Amazon won’t be outdone, and as such, it launched its new Mayday button and service along with the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9.
You’ve probably already seen the TV commercials about this. Mayday connects you to a live “Amazon Tech Advisor” who can see your screen (but not you although YOU can see them) to help with whatever issues you may encounter.
Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 and Case Cost Less Than iPad Air
You can purchase a new 16GB Wi-Fi Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 tablet for $379 with “special offers,” which means deals and offers display on your tablet’s lock screen, or $394 without the special offers. The 16GB Wi-Fi iPad Air costs over $100 more at $499.
For the rest of the story, see the full article – 8 things the Kindle Fire HDX does that the iPad Air can’t here:
