In the last year, generic searches for e-readers have doubled, while Kindle-related searches have increased eight fold. With the smaller, sleeker and cheaper Kindle 3 now available Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) looks set to further capitalise on its position as a market leader in the e-reader market.

As with many gadgets, search behaviour favours branded search terms rather than generic terms. Searches for branded terms search as ‘sony reader’ and ‘amazon kindle’ have always been more popular than ‘ebook’. What’s interesting to note from the above chart is the rise in popularity of Kindle-related search terms against other branded terms. In the last month searches for Kindles have never been higher. Amazon’s product is pulling away from the competition, where previously the volume of searches has been roughly even between Kindles and other e-readers.

While the Amazon Kindle has a competitive edge over other similar products, the real brand war will be fought between Amazon and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). The iPad is more than an e-reader but it is also a lot more expensive than the Kindle and its peers. With Amazon’s aggressive pricing strategy the Kindle 3 could provide a challenge to Apple’s successful iPad.

A couple of weeks ago Sky News reported that Apple was planning a new ‘iPad mini’ to be launched in time for Christmas. The ‘iPad mini’ is rumoured to have a seven inch screen, much closer to the new Kindle’s six inch reading screen. Searches for both ‘ipad mini’ and ‘kindle 3’ have spiked since the end of July but the online popular vote seems to be with the Kindle, as in the last week searches spiked for ‘kindle 3’ while there was a direct correlation in a drop in searches for ‘ipad mini’.

Could the new Kindle be the iPad killer? Amazon certainly seem to think so, reporting that the Kindle 3 has been selling faster than any of its previous incarnations, according to Mashable. Apple however, sold its first million iPads in 28 days, less than half the time it took to sell its first million iPhones. It is still worth noting that searches for iPads are 300% higher than searches for Kindles.

Robin Goad is research director at Experian Hitwise UK, where he contributes to the Hitwise Intelligence weblog.