You can ignore it, you can say it is weak, you can say the iPad will crush all comers, but there is competition now. Both in quality and commerically.
Of course, as always, it is hard to get a man to understand something when his job requires that he does not. For example, where are all these bad reviews for the Xoom? Most put it a bit below the iPad.
Here's the basic problems with the XOOM: it is priced higher than the iPad, isn't much better, and has less apps designed for it. It has more ports, but consumers don't seem to care.
A lot of the old PC vs Mac decision making factors in on the consumer side. Cheaper has its own quality, but combined with Apple's design - well. It is very much if the Mac mini was priced at $199 versus the rest of the PC market at $399.
I think HP will be seriously competitive and Microsoft might finally give up on the Windows 7 tablets and get someone to make WP7 tablets. Honeycomb looks good, but cellphone makers seem to have a lot of problems crossing to tablets because they love their business model with subsidies from the carriers. I think the first company that has a better iPod touch based on Android, webOS, or WP7 will be the sign post for their tablet to be a true iPad competitor. I think it will show they get the whole market.
The title is misleading. He doesn't mean competition like "there are no other tablets out that can compete against ipad", he means competition in the sense that he believes that nobody is doing anything innovative in tablets except for Apple. Apple does something, then everyone rushes to copy it. Nobody else is doing anything impressive that Apple rushes and other vendors try to copy.
"Motorola has the Xoom, but so far the reviews haven’t been the best."
What reviews has he been reading? I have read several and most have said in short "While there are still a few kinks to work out, this is better than the iPad right now."
"Go where the puck is going to be"
You mean like putting 2 cameras, HD aspect ratio and resolution, dual core processors, 4G upgrade-ability, true multi-tasking, a UI that relies on no hardware buttons other than power and volume (orientation free), Wi-fi hot-spotting, workstation style docks, etc. into a tablet ahead of the current market line? Kind of like the Xoom perhaps? Yes I know iPad 2 is coming but I don't expect it's specs to exceed that by much feature wise.
From the very first line: "Jim Dalrymple has been writing about Apple for more than 15 years." I had a strong expectation this was going to be an "Apple's Best' article and that's exactly what it was. I would like to give it more weight than that as I have occasionally respected his views in the past but this time I just can't. There are "fan-boys" in every camp and this article is to me another example.
The iPad won't be dethroned on specs alone, even when it's feasible, which it currently isn't. It defined a product category and it can't be cloned. The usurper will need a killer feature that everyone wants and Apple can't match. I have trouble imagining what that would be.
My best guess is that some day tablets will be "essential", in the way that phones are, and there will be cheapo Android tablets for those who can't afford iPads or don't have enough taste to care. Both of those things are a long way off though, if they ever happen.
The conclusion seems a bit forced to me. Considering how long the iPhone was without credible competition, and how quickly the landscape changed (and is still changing) you'd have expected a more circumspect reading of the iPad situation.
And the article does not take into account the effects of Apple's overreaching control of their platform, which I think has as big a punitive effect on their platform's growth as anything their competitors do.
I'm rooting for competitors, but I have a hard time picturing many of them coming near Apple's quality in either hardware or software.
Apple has a vast amount of experience in creating consumer software and interfaces, and even with Google's help, Samsung, Motorola and HTC will have a hard time matching that in the near future.
Motorola, for instance, I lost much trust in due to the endless stream of problems I've had with my Droid 2 phone. Many of these problems are said to be present in the original Droid, too (the most current issue? The camera's focus is stuck at about 1 foot). What Motorola seems to lack is Apple's high standards.
The author is absolutely correct in regards to his central thesis: Apple's iPad has got the market cornered.
However, he builds so many little strawmen that I fear that argument will be lost. For example, there is competition. The Xoom is competition. Apparently, it's pretty good, too. No, it won't beat the iPad, but it's there. It's good. We've yet to see how well it does, even.
Who knows what will be a real threat to the iPad–it probably won't be Android; the iPad is not fungible (just like the iPhone has proven not to be). Instead, Android devices will carve out market of their own, and continue to compete against each other.
I wonder if it would take an entirely new OS and an entirely new company to successfully compete. I doubt we see anything soon, but I can only hope. Apple's making me feel more and more walled in, every day, even as I enjoy their products.
All the iPad clones, while they might be half decent, fail to excite. As in they bring nothing surprising to the table. Give us something like, I dunno, Kinect-powered interaction, seamless 2nd-monitor functionality for Windows/Linux, holographic projection, 3D television, built-in offline/syncing wikipedia, free internet plan, velcro wall-mounting kit, an FM transmitter, spectral analysis, hook it up to specs-mounted camera and let me Sky+/TiVo my day, something game-changing, anything, just not another USB port.
I think you're right. Tablets are new territory. This should allow some sort creativity to happen. One possible approach is to ask "what apps could exist if we added hardware x?".
Apple is not in the tablet market or the phone market. They are in the clairvoyance market. If you're reacting to the present instead of predicting the future, you're obviously not in the same market.
Surely any technology company is trying to predict the future and create products that people want. The iPad was, what, 5 years after Microsoft's tablets, the difference is that Apple can execute well.
Most the of the other vendors, Motorola included, don't control their OS.
WebOS and the TouchPad will absolutely complete well with the iPad on both the hardware and software levels. I'd be very surprised if the iPad2 was released with better hardware than what is in the TouchPad. WebOS is the best mobile operating system out there and it's such a shame that it wasn't handled better until this point. It has had features in it for years that all other mobile OSes are still trying to catch up to. Hopefully HP will do a great job marketing everything because that's the real key to competing with Apple.
And with the iPad selling 15 million copies, and the iPad 2 coming out Tuesday, they need to get the damn thing out the door and into the hands of customers.
One upon a time someone had the bright idea to close the first Mac in that no one could open it up and customize...
PCs came in at a lower price and less features and in 2 years time Apple was losing..
So which vendor infrastructure is now acting as wintel?
Every OEM/Mobile Operator combination that did not get an iPad deal is gunning to beat Apple..no one tablet has to out compete iPad..the sheer number of choices and volume of those choices will..
[+] [-] Kylekramer|15 years ago|reply
Of course, as always, it is hard to get a man to understand something when his job requires that he does not. For example, where are all these bad reviews for the Xoom? Most put it a bit below the iPad.
[+] [-] protomyth|15 years ago|reply
A lot of the old PC vs Mac decision making factors in on the consumer side. Cheaper has its own quality, but combined with Apple's design - well. It is very much if the Mac mini was priced at $199 versus the rest of the PC market at $399.
I think HP will be seriously competitive and Microsoft might finally give up on the Windows 7 tablets and get someone to make WP7 tablets. Honeycomb looks good, but cellphone makers seem to have a lot of problems crossing to tablets because they love their business model with subsidies from the carriers. I think the first company that has a better iPod touch based on Android, webOS, or WP7 will be the sign post for their tablet to be a true iPad competitor. I think it will show they get the whole market.
[+] [-] nexneo|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] HaloZero|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 51Cards|15 years ago|reply
What reviews has he been reading? I have read several and most have said in short "While there are still a few kinks to work out, this is better than the iPad right now."
"Go where the puck is going to be"
You mean like putting 2 cameras, HD aspect ratio and resolution, dual core processors, 4G upgrade-ability, true multi-tasking, a UI that relies on no hardware buttons other than power and volume (orientation free), Wi-fi hot-spotting, workstation style docks, etc. into a tablet ahead of the current market line? Kind of like the Xoom perhaps? Yes I know iPad 2 is coming but I don't expect it's specs to exceed that by much feature wise.
From the very first line: "Jim Dalrymple has been writing about Apple for more than 15 years." I had a strong expectation this was going to be an "Apple's Best' article and that's exactly what it was. I would like to give it more weight than that as I have occasionally respected his views in the past but this time I just can't. There are "fan-boys" in every camp and this article is to me another example.
[+] [-] ThomPete|15 years ago|reply
You cannot exclude things like ecosystem from the equation.
[+] [-] extension|15 years ago|reply
My best guess is that some day tablets will be "essential", in the way that phones are, and there will be cheapo Android tablets for those who can't afford iPads or don't have enough taste to care. Both of those things are a long way off though, if they ever happen.
[+] [-] nr0mx|15 years ago|reply
And the article does not take into account the effects of Apple's overreaching control of their platform, which I think has as big a punitive effect on their platform's growth as anything their competitors do.
[+] [-] code_duck|15 years ago|reply
Apple has a vast amount of experience in creating consumer software and interfaces, and even with Google's help, Samsung, Motorola and HTC will have a hard time matching that in the near future.
Motorola, for instance, I lost much trust in due to the endless stream of problems I've had with my Droid 2 phone. Many of these problems are said to be present in the original Droid, too (the most current issue? The camera's focus is stuck at about 1 foot). What Motorola seems to lack is Apple's high standards.
[+] [-] ihodes|15 years ago|reply
However, he builds so many little strawmen that I fear that argument will be lost. For example, there is competition. The Xoom is competition. Apparently, it's pretty good, too. No, it won't beat the iPad, but it's there. It's good. We've yet to see how well it does, even.
Who knows what will be a real threat to the iPad–it probably won't be Android; the iPad is not fungible (just like the iPhone has proven not to be). Instead, Android devices will carve out market of their own, and continue to compete against each other.
I wonder if it would take an entirely new OS and an entirely new company to successfully compete. I doubt we see anything soon, but I can only hope. Apple's making me feel more and more walled in, every day, even as I enjoy their products.
[+] [-] Tycho|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] netcan|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tichy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bane|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] extension|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rythie|15 years ago|reply
Most the of the other vendors, Motorola included, don't control their OS.
[+] [-] Tichy|15 years ago|reply
I suppose the iPad will have the bloody camera, but it is not yet available.
[+] [-] shaggy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jmelloy|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jimfl|15 years ago|reply
Completely disagree. All previous attempts have been nothing more than laptops with the keyboard torn off, and a stylus sensitive screen.
You can actually watch Apple invent the tablet right before our eyes with the iPod touch, iPhone, unibody MacBooks, and glossy displays.
[+] [-] shareme|15 years ago|reply
One upon a time someone had the bright idea to close the first Mac in that no one could open it up and customize...
PCs came in at a lower price and less features and in 2 years time Apple was losing..
So which vendor infrastructure is now acting as wintel?
Every OEM/Mobile Operator combination that did not get an iPad deal is gunning to beat Apple..no one tablet has to out compete iPad..the sheer number of choices and volume of those choices will..
[+] [-] lopatamd|15 years ago|reply
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