Best Buy announced last week it would begin selling Amazon Kindles at Best Buy stores this Fall. This is a big step for Amazon.com, which up until now had sold the Kindle exclusively on the Amazon website. With the new, lower-priced Kindles selling like hot cakes, this could help stimulate holiday sales even more. But the Kindle will be sharing shelf space with other eBook Reader devices including the Sony Reader and the Barnes & Noble Nook, and of course, it will also be competing with the iPad.

Amazon has been searching for ways to differentiate itself from the iPad, which has become an eBook Reader of choice for many people. Kindle is still basically just an eBook Reader, and the iPad is many devices in one, but as a stand-alone reader, the Kindle has been designed specifically to read eBooks.

The latest Amazon ad takes a swipe at the iPad. It features a man and woman lounging by a pool. The guy is struggling to read a book on his iPad in the bright sunlight (a valid problem with the device), while the girl, cool as can be, lets him know she has no problem reading her Kindle. Oh, and by the way, she paid a fraction of the price of his iPad. Of course, what she doesn't say is that you only get reader functionality and not much else.

Moving Kindle into the brick and mortar retail space makes a lot of sense for Amazon. By now, the Kindle has a lot of brand recognition and having it on the shelf at Best Buy should help stimulate holiday sales for folks who might not buy online. It might not have all of the functionality of an iPad, but Amazon's ad makes a good point. At only $139, it's a lot less than the cheapest iPad.

For more information:
- see the Best Buy press release

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