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>The iPad utterly dominates the tablet landspace The reason for this is, I think, kind of obvious: everyone needs a phone. Most people buying new phones opt f

>The iPad utterly dominates the tablet landspace The reason for this is, I think, kind of obvious: everyone needs a phone. Most people buying new phones opt for smartphones, and the cheapest smartphones are droids. They serve the market. Tablets, however, are a luxury item. They're not a necessity like a phone, nor are they a productivity item in the same way a laptop is. The people who buy them are buying them as luxury/status items, and that means Apple. Just as those who buy phones for status buy iphones, so too do those who buy tablets buy ipads. The only people who buy luxury phones and tablets, but opt for android, tend to be the technorati which is a much smaller market than Apple appeals to.

Steko 15y ago
"Tablets, however, are a luxury item... The people who buy them are buying them as luxury/status items, and that means Apple." iPads replace laptops for many people which explodes your hypothesis. I've never purchased a laptop in my life due to expense but I did buy an ipad. New category =/= luxury. Apple has won this category because (among other things) they were the first successful entrant, their software is more refined, their ecosystem is better and their distribution is leagues better.
- cageface 15y ago
  But this just means that a laptop would also have been a luxury for you. Apparently you don't need a mobile computer or you would have bought one before the tablet became an option. Like a lot of people I'm working on the go all the time and as much as I like tablets for certain things I need a real laptop.
  - Steko 15y ago
    "But this just means that a laptop would also have been a luxury for you." You're pivoting to a very circular definition of luxury here. A laptop is something that would have been very useful to me, as it turns out it always ended up one lower then other things on the budgetary priority. That doens't make it a luxury/status item as you said 3 up. Ultimately there's a contradiction in your claim that a laptop in general is not a luxury/status good ("sign of affluence" - wiki) but a cheaper iPad, which often functions as a laptop substitute, somehow is.
InclinedPlane 15y ago
It's funny that you make this comparison. Telephones used to be considered a luxury item, and they carried a luxury tax in the US until about a decade ago (to pay for the Spanish-American war, initially).

Steko 15y ago

"Tablets, however, are a luxury item... The people who buy them are buying them as luxury/status items, and that means Apple." iPads replace laptops for many people which explodes your hypothesis. I've never purchased a laptop in my life due to expense but I did buy an ipad. New category =/= luxury. Apple has won this category because (among other things) they were the first successful entrant, their software is more refined, their ecosystem is better and their distribution is leagues better.

cageface 15y ago
But this just means that a laptop would also have been a luxury for you. Apparently you don't need a mobile computer or you would have bought one before the tablet became an option. Like a lot of people I'm working on the go all the time and as much as I like tablets for certain things I need a real laptop.
- Steko 15y ago
  "But this just means that a laptop would also have been a luxury for you." You're pivoting to a very circular definition of luxury here. A laptop is something that would have been very useful to me, as it turns out it always ended up one lower then other things on the budgetary priority. That doens't make it a luxury/status item as you said 3 up. Ultimately there's a contradiction in your claim that a laptop in general is not a luxury/status good ("sign of affluence" - wiki) but a cheaper iPad, which often functions as a laptop substitute, somehow is.

InclinedPlane 15y ago

It's funny that you make this comparison. Telephones used to be considered a luxury item, and they carried a luxury tax in the US until about a decade ago (to pay for the Spanish-American war, initially).