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Why is anyone happy that it is only an iPad market? Do they expect Apple to continually innovate in a non-competitive market? If you like tablets and not just A

Why is anyone happy that it is only an iPad market? Do they expect Apple to continually innovate in a non-competitive market? If you like tablets and not just Apple, you want to see more contenders in the market not less.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
BigZaphod 15y ago
"Do they expect Apple to continually innovate in a non-competitive market?" Probably, yes, and I would argue there is some reason to believe they would do so. Look at what happened in the MP3 player market: Apple utterly dominated that market long ago, and yet they kept messing with the product lines, adding models, changing the feature balances, etc. There was and still is a lot of experimentation going on there and there's essentially no real competitors in that market anymore. "Portable music player" and "iPod" are practically synonyms. Apple (with Steve Jobs at the helm, anyway) is different from many companies. They don't see themselves as competing with other companies. Instead I believe they consider Apple of the previous year to be the competitor to beat for the current year.
- icebraining 15y ago
  >Apple utterly dominated that market long ago Was that true outside the 'States? I don't remember the iPod ever dominating here, while in the tablet market the iPad does seem to dominate.
  - ljf 15y ago
    Interested to know where 'here' is for you. In the UK ipod did and still does dominate the public perception of modern portable music.
    - icebraining 15y ago
      >Interested to know where 'here' is for you. Portugal. There were iPods, but as far as I'm aware they didn't dominate the market - in fact, I believe Creative players were more popular.
  - saturn 15y ago
    Well, the iPod certainly dominated in Australia, at least. I have to think for a second to even remember another brand of mp3 player. Ah yes .. the Creative Rio, or Zen, or something. I have never actually seen one in real life. I would also like to know where you are from. iPod was an incredibly strong brand here. It was basically synonymous with mp3 players. Anything else seemed, and in truth was, second best. I owned 3 or 4 of the things.
  - BigZaphod 15y ago
    I don't know. Perhaps the utter iPod domination was largely a US thing - especially since it went hand-in-hand with Apple coming back from the dead and them not initially having the resources to go global in a big way? I think Apple has been largely US-centric up until the iPhone, so that could explain why there's a disconnect online when topics like this come up since obviously non-US people will have had a different Apple experience over the last decade or so than those of us here who have been seeing iPods everywhere for years.
scdc 15y ago
When I look at the iPod evolution, then yes. I do expect Apple to continually innovate.
- megaman821 15y ago
  What iPod evolution, adding a camera? How about: - increased codec support formats like flac? - wireless sycning? - syncing or streaming for unlimited music services like Spotify, Rdio, or Rhapsody? - industry standard like micro-usb for charging and syncing? - micro sd storage expansion? I don't know how people see an innovative market for mp3 players.
  - sirn 15y ago
    Changing form factor is also considers evolution. Tech people tend to ignore anything beyond a list of specs, but something like iPod Nano design creates interesting ecosystem beyond the initial "omg it supports MicroSD", e.g. the iPod Nano wristwatch. I know at least six people bought the iPod Nano because of that and they will probably never considers buying one if Apple were adding MicroSD or supporting FLAC. (Can't comment about Spotify, Rdio or Rhapsody because they're not available in my country anyway.)
chico_dusty 15y ago
Why yes. Apple makes way more money via yearly must-have-for-some-reason updates than they do if people keep their pads for years.
- ootachi 15y ago
  So does Microsoft, but that didn't stop them from not innovating between IE6 and IE7, for example.
  - chico_dusty 15y ago
    New iPads don't show up for free in Windows Update.
    - glassx 15y ago
      What about Windows versions? Windows XP still works perfectly, but that didn't prevent people from buying Windows Vista or Windows 7 because of the innovations...
      - chico_dusty 15y ago
        That was my point in the first place.
        glassx 15y ago
        Yes, but, paraphrasing you, major Windows versions "don't show up for free in Windows Update".
        chico_dusty 15y ago
        Are you hard of reading? That was my whole effing point.
jinushaun 15y ago
With or without competition, Apple has an incentive to give you a reason to buy a brand new iPad every year. Just look at the iPod.
rimantas 15y ago
Was tablet market competetive befor iPad showed up?
jff 15y ago
I think the owner of "minimalmac.com" is probably quite happy that it's an iPad-only market (even if it isn't really), because Our Lord and Savior Steve Jobs presented the iPad and every other tablet is just a heathenish mockery.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

BigZaphod 15y ago

"Do they expect Apple to continually innovate in a non-competitive market?" Probably, yes, and I would argue there is some reason to believe they would do so. Look at what happened in the MP3 player market: Apple utterly dominated that market long ago, and yet they kept messing with the product lines, adding models, changing the feature balances, etc. There was and still is a lot of experimentation going on there and there's essentially no real competitors in that market anymore. "Portable music player" and "iPod" are practically synonyms. Apple (with Steve Jobs at the helm, anyway) is different from many companies. They don't see themselves as competing with other companies. Instead I believe they consider Apple of the previous year to be the competitor to beat for the current year.

icebraining 15y ago
>Apple utterly dominated that market long ago Was that true outside the 'States? I don't remember the iPod ever dominating here, while in the tablet market the iPad does seem to dominate.
- ljf 15y ago
  Interested to know where 'here' is for you. In the UK ipod did and still does dominate the public perception of modern portable music.
  - icebraining 15y ago
    >Interested to know where 'here' is for you. Portugal. There were iPods, but as far as I'm aware they didn't dominate the market - in fact, I believe Creative players were more popular.
- saturn 15y ago
  Well, the iPod certainly dominated in Australia, at least. I have to think for a second to even remember another brand of mp3 player. Ah yes .. the Creative Rio, or Zen, or something. I have never actually seen one in real life. I would also like to know where you are from. iPod was an incredibly strong brand here. It was basically synonymous with mp3 players. Anything else seemed, and in truth was, second best. I owned 3 or 4 of the things.
- BigZaphod 15y ago
  I don't know. Perhaps the utter iPod domination was largely a US thing - especially since it went hand-in-hand with Apple coming back from the dead and them not initially having the resources to go global in a big way? I think Apple has been largely US-centric up until the iPhone, so that could explain why there's a disconnect online when topics like this come up since obviously non-US people will have had a different Apple experience over the last decade or so than those of us here who have been seeing iPods everywhere for years.

scdc 15y ago

When I look at the iPod evolution, then yes. I do expect Apple to continually innovate.

megaman821 15y ago
What iPod evolution, adding a camera? How about: - increased codec support formats like flac? - wireless sycning? - syncing or streaming for unlimited music services like Spotify, Rdio, or Rhapsody? - industry standard like micro-usb for charging and syncing? - micro sd storage expansion? I don't know how people see an innovative market for mp3 players.
- sirn 15y ago
  Changing form factor is also considers evolution. Tech people tend to ignore anything beyond a list of specs, but something like iPod Nano design creates interesting ecosystem beyond the initial "omg it supports MicroSD", e.g. the iPod Nano wristwatch. I know at least six people bought the iPod Nano because of that and they will probably never considers buying one if Apple were adding MicroSD or supporting FLAC. (Can't comment about Spotify, Rdio or Rhapsody because they're not available in my country anyway.)

chico_dusty 15y ago

Why yes. Apple makes way more money via yearly must-have-for-some-reason updates than they do if people keep their pads for years.

ootachi 15y ago
So does Microsoft, but that didn't stop them from not innovating between IE6 and IE7, for example.
- chico_dusty 15y ago
  New iPads don't show up for free in Windows Update.
  - glassx 15y ago
    What about Windows versions? Windows XP still works perfectly, but that didn't prevent people from buying Windows Vista or Windows 7 because of the innovations...
    - chico_dusty 15y ago
      That was my point in the first place.
      - glassx 15y ago
        Yes, but, paraphrasing you, major Windows versions "don't show up for free in Windows Update".
        chico_dusty 15y ago
        Are you hard of reading? That was my whole effing point.

jinushaun 15y ago

With or without competition, Apple has an incentive to give you a reason to buy a brand new iPad every year. Just look at the iPod.

rimantas 15y ago

Was tablet market competetive befor iPad showed up?

jff 15y ago

I think the owner of "minimalmac.com" is probably quite happy that it's an iPad-only market (even if it isn't really), because Our Lord and Savior Steve Jobs presented the iPad and every other tablet is just a heathenish mockery.