The holiday season is coming soon and we wanted to get ahead of the annual discussion on what gadgets will be the absolute, positive hottest. This year, friends, it's the iPad 2 and the Kindle Fire we've got our eyes on.

Retrevo questioned 1,000 consumers and discovered some interesting things. First, 44 percent of consumers are tempted to buy a Amazon's Kindle Fire instead of Apple's iPad 2. This must be raising a number of eyebrows in Cupertino, since Apple's already sold 25 million iPads this year. Only 12 percent said they'd be interested in buying an iPad this holiday season. Ho ho ho.

Next: 12 percent said they're actually planning to buy a Kindle Fire, while 10 percent plan on getting an iPad. And 27 percent of existing tablet owners said they plan to buy a Fire, while just 20 percent will buy an iPad.

There's a lot that's unknown about the Kindle Fire, but in terms of the market I think Retrevo's survey reveals one simple fact: Although everyone usually eyes the coolest gadget during the holidays, this year people are interested in buying a cheaper yet powerful device instead of the bigger, proven but more expensive one. It's not just because of Amazon's innovation or a problem with Apple. It's because people want to save money for things besides buying another expensive, yet wonderful, device.