Apple iPad Mini versus Amazon Kindle Fire

A week may be a long time in politics, but 18 months is an absolute aeon as far as computing is concerned. Back in October 2010 here at DaniWeb I was posing the question of whether the newest Amazon Kindle could be an iPad killer and came to the almost inevitable conclusion that as far as reading books was concerned, then yes it was. Soon that boot could be on the other foot with ongoing rumours that an iPad Mini will be on sale in time for the seasonal rush at year end, backed up by what are claimed to be 'engineering prototype sample' photos published this week. Can the iPad Mini actually be a Kindle Fire killer?