I'm interested to see what happens with Apple's upcoming releases. A large (albeit not the only) component of Bezos' message is that the Kindle Fire provides an iPad-quality experience at a lower upfront price because Amazon intends to get most of its long-term customer value through media sales; that idea could suddenly become a lot more interesting if a hypothetical iPad Mini / Air is released at the same price point as the Fire. Amazon would still be very well-positioned (as Gruber puts it, "heads we win, tails you lose"), but it would certainly make the hardware sales race more interesting.