Online book seller Amazon is mightily miffed at Apple releasing iPad Mini. For years Apple said that a seven inch tablet was a waste of time. Steve Jobs called it “dead in the water” and CEO Tim Cook in an earnings call statement said Apple would "never make" a seven-inch tablet.

All those statements were a dig at Amazon which was the first to seriously test the waters with a seven inch tablet and see it pay off dramatically. Google followed with its Nexus tablet and now Apple has copied it. Yesterday Amazon fought back with a prominently-placed ad on its homepage for the Kindle Fire HD.

Under the headline "Much More for Much Less," Amazon compared its tablet with Apple's new iPad mini including its higher-resolution display, ability to display HD movies and TV, and dual stereo speakers. It points out that the iPad mini has far fewer pixels than the competing 7-inch tablets and is effectively cramming a worse screen in there, charging more and accusing others of compromise.

Amazon gives itself credit for its own 216 ppi display three times in its comparison chart. But the biggest winner is that Amazon has such a big edge on price.  The Fire is only $130 while the Jobs' Mob tablet is $329.  Amazon also has access to free content through Amazon’s Prime service.

However this is the first time that Amazon has gone on the offensive against the marketing machine which is Apple.  It will be time to pop some pop corn and see what happens next.