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Apple’s iPad Still Has No Competition

64 points by mkrecny 16y ago

lopatamd 16y ago
another troll article as expected
Tycho 16y ago
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.
- netcan 16y ago
  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?".
  - Tycho 16y ago
    Yeah, or at least look at problems with the iPad that are non-obvious because they seem insurmountable: too big to fit in your pocket (fold-up tablet?); screen is poor for outdoor use (e-ink display on the back side?)... rather than 'we do Flash.' I remember so many people saying 'that will never catch on' or 'nobody needs that' in reference to the iPod, iPhone, iPad, because they broke the mold. They need to put out something that makes iPad owners sit up and think 'actually, that's pretty cool' or 'what?... that will never work!'
- Tichy 16y ago
  I just want solid quality, affordable. I don't want to read web sites standing on my head or by clicking my tongue.
- bane 16y ago
  I'd actually just like a USB port on my iPad to be honest.
  - T-hawk 16y ago
    To be precise, what you would like is a USB port and software support for what could be a subtly wide range of peripherals. A USB port brings the expectation of seamless software support for all of the following: - removable storage - wired networking - audio speakers - scanners - printers - cameras - keyboard - mouse/trackball - joypad input - any of a million other HID inputs like fingerprint readers, graphics tablets, biometric sensors... I can understand Apple wanting to avoid opening that Pandora's box. Do all those device vendors really want to write and support iOS drivers in addition to all their other platforms? Does Apple really want to be involved in vetting and approving driver code for all that? Does Apple want the inevitable support burden for when those devices don't work?
    - bane 16y ago
      Good points all, but I really just want to be able to hook it up as a peripheral via usb, not the funky and extremely proprietary iDevice connector. Hooking up my Android devices to anything and everything as a peripheral via usb has proven useful numerous times. In several cases it has literally saved the day while my colleagues sat there in silence brandishing useless (for that moment) iPhones and iPads. Not using a standard old USB port on iDevices has mystified me since they iPods first started coming out. (oh, and since I'm wishing here, SD card support would be super great too)
Kylekramer 16y ago
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.
- nexneo 16y ago
  Most put it a bit below the iPad. Thats what he is saying, all aiming for #2. Why the customer buy bit below gadget for higher price.
  - sp332 16y ago
    A 32GB 3G iPad is $729. EDIT The Xoom costs $800, has a higher-resolution screen, two cameras, and the price includes an upgrade to 4G (whenever Verizon and Motorola sort that out). So I think it's actually pretty close. Well, at least the hardware is, which I know is not the whole story :-)
    - arst 16y ago
      Considering the iPad doesn't come on contract it would probably make more sense to compare it to the $799 contractless Xoom
    - neilc 16y ago
      Almost all the non-techies I know have the WiFi iPad, not the 3G version. I'm not sure of the exact sales figures, but I would expect the WiFi iPad is much more popular. Effectively the XOOM is competing against something that costs $500, not $729 + recurring fee.
- protomyth 16y ago
  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.
ihodes 16y ago
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.
extension 16y ago
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.
- rythie 16y ago
  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.
  - cletus 16y ago
    Actually if the iPod, iPhone and iPad stories have taught us anything it's that Apple is visionary (whether or not you, personally, agree with that vision or not is immaterial; the market has generally decided in their favour). Everyone else is just copying last year's Apple product with a shotgun approach with no idea of why they're in the market (other than Apple is in it), what their vision for their product and company is or what consumers actually want. There are also countless examples to prove that just because you take a working formula and add stuff to it, it isn't by definition any better. In fact, it can be worse.
    - danenania 16y ago
      Maybe you're right, but you completely ignored his point that the IPad isn't really the first product of its kind.
      - cletus 16y ago
        And the iPhone wasn't the first phone or even the first smartphone. And the iPod wasn't the first MP3 player. His point about being first is misguided. It's more accurate to say Apple was the first to do each of these things right. The competition are simply mimicking what Apple already did right and, in doing so, chasing last year's model.
HaloZero 16y ago
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.
nr0mx 16y ago
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.
51Cards 16y ago
"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.
- ThomPete 16y ago
  This would be a rather weird claim unless you are only looking at the hardware specs, which obviously would be pretty stupid. You cannot exclude things like ecosystem from the equation.
  - 51Cards 16y ago
    Edit: Mea culpa on the Honeycomb mention, scratching my head on that... did a find on Android and Honeycomb just to be sure before I hit post.
    - apl 16y ago
      > The entire article, comparing the tablet market, > never _once_ uses the word Android or Honeycomb. Read again, please.
    - ahlatimer 16y ago
      He actually does mention Honeycomb: "No matter how good Google makes Honeycomb, the fact is, almost every company out there will be using it." It's kind of a shitty argument, though, if you ask me. I don't follow the Android market all that closely, but it seems competitors are, in fact, doing things to differentiate themselves, even if they share the same core OS.
code_duck 16y ago
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.
shaggy 16y ago
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.
- jmelloy 16y ago
  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.
Tichy 16y ago
The iPad doesn't have a camera for video chat. I think some competitors already do. I suppose the iPad will have the bloody camera, but it is not yet available.
shareme 16y ago
I am reminded of a story.. 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..
jimfl 16y ago
"Apple didn't invent the tablet..." 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.

64 points by mkrecny 16y ago

another troll article as expected

Tycho 16y ago

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.

netcan 16y ago
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?".
- Tycho 16y ago
  Yeah, or at least look at problems with the iPad that are non-obvious because they seem insurmountable: too big to fit in your pocket (fold-up tablet?); screen is poor for outdoor use (e-ink display on the back side?)... rather than 'we do Flash.' I remember so many people saying 'that will never catch on' or 'nobody needs that' in reference to the iPod, iPhone, iPad, because they broke the mold. They need to put out something that makes iPad owners sit up and think 'actually, that's pretty cool' or 'what?... that will never work!'
Tichy 16y ago
I just want solid quality, affordable. I don't want to read web sites standing on my head or by clicking my tongue.
bane 16y ago
I'd actually just like a USB port on my iPad to be honest.
- T-hawk 16y ago
  To be precise, what you would like is a USB port and software support for what could be a subtly wide range of peripherals. A USB port brings the expectation of seamless software support for all of the following: - removable storage - wired networking - audio speakers - scanners - printers - cameras - keyboard - mouse/trackball - joypad input - any of a million other HID inputs like fingerprint readers, graphics tablets, biometric sensors... I can understand Apple wanting to avoid opening that Pandora's box. Do all those device vendors really want to write and support iOS drivers in addition to all their other platforms? Does Apple really want to be involved in vetting and approving driver code for all that? Does Apple want the inevitable support burden for when those devices don't work?
  - bane 16y ago
    Good points all, but I really just want to be able to hook it up as a peripheral via usb, not the funky and extremely proprietary iDevice connector. Hooking up my Android devices to anything and everything as a peripheral via usb has proven useful numerous times. In several cases it has literally saved the day while my colleagues sat there in silence brandishing useless (for that moment) iPhones and iPads. Not using a standard old USB port on iDevices has mystified me since they iPods first started coming out. (oh, and since I'm wishing here, SD card support would be super great too)

Kylekramer 16y ago

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.

nexneo 16y ago
Most put it a bit below the iPad. Thats what he is saying, all aiming for #2. Why the customer buy bit below gadget for higher price.
- sp332 16y ago
  A 32GB 3G iPad is $729. EDIT The Xoom costs $800, has a higher-resolution screen, two cameras, and the price includes an upgrade to 4G (whenever Verizon and Motorola sort that out). So I think it's actually pretty close. Well, at least the hardware is, which I know is not the whole story :-)
  - arst 16y ago
    Considering the iPad doesn't come on contract it would probably make more sense to compare it to the $799 contractless Xoom
  - neilc 16y ago
    Almost all the non-techies I know have the WiFi iPad, not the 3G version. I'm not sure of the exact sales figures, but I would expect the WiFi iPad is much more popular. Effectively the XOOM is competing against something that costs $500, not $729 + recurring fee.
protomyth 16y ago
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.

ihodes 16y ago

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.

extension 16y ago

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.

rythie 16y ago
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.
- cletus 16y ago
  Actually if the iPod, iPhone and iPad stories have taught us anything it's that Apple is visionary (whether or not you, personally, agree with that vision or not is immaterial; the market has generally decided in their favour). Everyone else is just copying last year's Apple product with a shotgun approach with no idea of why they're in the market (other than Apple is in it), what their vision for their product and company is or what consumers actually want. There are also countless examples to prove that just because you take a working formula and add stuff to it, it isn't by definition any better. In fact, it can be worse.
  - danenania 16y ago
    Maybe you're right, but you completely ignored his point that the IPad isn't really the first product of its kind.
    - cletus 16y ago
      And the iPhone wasn't the first phone or even the first smartphone. And the iPod wasn't the first MP3 player. His point about being first is misguided. It's more accurate to say Apple was the first to do each of these things right. The competition are simply mimicking what Apple already did right and, in doing so, chasing last year's model.

HaloZero 16y ago

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.

nr0mx 16y ago

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.

51Cards 16y ago

"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.

ThomPete 16y ago
This would be a rather weird claim unless you are only looking at the hardware specs, which obviously would be pretty stupid. You cannot exclude things like ecosystem from the equation.
- 51Cards 16y ago
  Edit: Mea culpa on the Honeycomb mention, scratching my head on that... did a find on Android and Honeycomb just to be sure before I hit post.
  - apl 16y ago
    > The entire article, comparing the tablet market, > never _once_ uses the word Android or Honeycomb. Read again, please.
  - ahlatimer 16y ago
    He actually does mention Honeycomb: "No matter how good Google makes Honeycomb, the fact is, almost every company out there will be using it." It's kind of a shitty argument, though, if you ask me. I don't follow the Android market all that closely, but it seems competitors are, in fact, doing things to differentiate themselves, even if they share the same core OS.

code_duck 16y ago

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.

shaggy 16y ago

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.

jmelloy 16y ago
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.

Tichy 16y ago

The iPad doesn't have a camera for video chat. I think some competitors already do. I suppose the iPad will have the bloody camera, but it is not yet available.

shareme 16y ago

I am reminded of a story.. 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..

jimfl 16y ago

"Apple didn't invent the tablet..." 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.