Black Friday is here and shoppers are out buying gadgets like crazy. Many of them are looking for tablets and some are deciding whether it’s going to be an iPad under the tree or another brand. While the Kindle Fire can’t beat the iPad on many levels, it can when it comes to price. That fact has many people wondering if they can save a couple hundred bucks and get the Fire instead.

GigaOm’s Alex Layne compared the two head-to-head to help people decide between the two.

He says what you need to remember is that the Kindle Fire is a multimedia Kindle that’s tightly integrated with Amazon’s services. While integration with Apple’s services is a big part of the iPad, its main purpose is really to run apps.

“The iPad has a bigger screen so that apps have more room to shine, and iOS at its fundamental level is a grid-based app launcher. The Fire is smaller, so it’s easier to enjoy media like books, and the software is designed for launching media. In short, the iPad is for apps; the Fire is for media, and media mostly sourced from a particular ecosystem,” Layne writes.

In short, he says the Fire is best for people who:

• Buy most of their content from Amazon.
• Don’t need to create media.
• Want a more portable tablet.
• Can’t afford to spend a lot of money.
• Don’t mind limited storage.

The iPad, on the other hand, is good for those who:

• Buy most of their content from Apple.
• Want to create media as well as consume it.
• Don’t mind the iPad’s larger size.
• Can afford to spend a little more.
• Need a lot of storage.

Read more at GigaOm ^[1].