When it comes to electronics, a purchaser should never consider resale value.  Most things don’t have a resale value, really; when you can get a laptop for $400, why would you pay $200 for a used model?  You wouldn’t; you’d just save up as best you can or wait for a sale, then get a new machine.  However, when it comes to more update-proof technology like tablets, there’s a bustling aftermarket.  On the resale circuit, Apple iPads products are clobbering Amazon’s Kindle offerings.

“Kindle’s frequent price drops combined with multiple models now available heavily contribute to its reduced Gazelle value,” wrote executive Anthony Scarsella with electronics reseller Gazelle. “Similar to what you see in Andriod phones (lots of model updates and frequent price drop) compared to iPhone (few models, stable pricing), the iPhone holds about 60% of its value one year after launch while even the best Androids only hold about 40%.”

Granted, the Kindle Fire is only 4 months old, so nobody knows how the Fire will compare with the iPad in a tablet-to-tablet stand-off, but Apple products tend to retain their resale value, partially because nobody can really tell the difference between an iPad and an iPad 2 unless you’re really looking closely.  That helps quite a bit, all things considered.  Perhaps a better comparison would be the Kindle versus the Nook; comparing a $500 iPad to a $140 Kindle (non-Fire version) is like comparing apples to spaghetti.