What If the Tablet is Just An Apple Phenomenon?

[seamusmac]

ISheeple are the reason....plain and simple!

 

[Griffolion]

The only thing that will keep the iPad successful is the marketing and the brand image behind it. Unfortunately, that's what the majority of the world cares about.

[citation][nom]attackoftheFANDROIDS[/nom]WOW...The FANDROIDS have come out in full force today!Back... Back to your parents basement. Back away from society you dirty FANDROID[/citation]

Yes, and you posting a comment on a tech website telling all the basement dwellers to get back in their basement is clearly nowhere near hypocritical.

[citation][nom]jon_doe_x[/nom]How about this. Perhaps Android just isn't as functional, stable, secure, or open as people think it to be? Perhaps Android simply sucks as an operating system...[/citation]

Proof? Or are you just baiting? I've read a few articles that have talked about the insecurities rife through other mobile OS's too. There are plenty of apps on Androids app store to give the OS loads of functionality, even the core experience is very satisfactory. And it isn't open? Okay so let's completely ignore HTC Sense, TouchWiz and Moto BLUR modifications made to the OS by OEM's and the plethora of custom ROMS that can be found on XDA and elsewhere? That last statement is subjective at best, i say 'at best' because it has come from an incredibly flawed opinion and mindset in the first place. At worst it's basically drivel from a troll.

OT: I genuinely don't care who buys what or what is successful, i'm happy with my purchases so live and let live.

 

[nateman1799]

I would like to correct an error though that everyone is assuming. Its generally assumed because Verizon decided to be dicks about how they sell the Motorola Xoom that it is outlandishly expensive. But lets all be honest here...how many of us need another data plan on a tablet when we already have smartphones for mobile data? And if you're into your tech a wee bit you can tether your data to a Wi-Fi only tablet. So my point of the matter is...all of these...constructive marketing ads are comparing the 16 gig Wifi Ipad2 for around $500-$550 against the Wifi Xoom's 32 gigs of internal storage coming in at $600. Know how much a 32 gig Wifi Ipad 2 is? I'll give ya some guesses cause I know it will be hard to admit that its equal. So every when you talk about the Xoom being a dead product because its over priced...its just the same as the Ipad2. And while Ipad2 may be a very impressive mobile device (much faster than its previous version), the Tegra 2 cpu/graphics solution has superior graphics processing power and capabilities which can result in overall better battery efficency and speed in given situations of ACTUAL computational processing...and to my knowledge the only App in the Apple community that does so serious processing is the new Imovie for Ipad. Besides that, theres not much actual processing happening on an Ipad. It is a really nice portable lcd monitor though. 😉

Oh and P.S. Take a look at the Asus Eee Pad Transformer lads. Practically the same specs as the Xoom...but better price and added value of keyboard dock with additional battery pools. 16 hours all together.

 

[chronicbint]

I swear people dont read articles and just rage about random things that were not said, implied or mentioned.

 

[mrgouda]

I'd have to agree for the most part. Currently most competitors just aren't up to par with the ipad. I've had a chance to play with most of the tablets in question but if I were to buy one it would be the ipad. By far the most responsive touch screen and very snappy and quick performance. And it's still one the cheapest tablets out there! Apple product or not, it's still the benchmark for which other tablets will be judged by.

 

[Parsian]

There are more stupid people out there than smart ones hence, naturally, iPad sells more.

 

[Guest]

Next tablet innovation...By NINTENDO! An I-Pad clone with 3DS! =)

 

[megamanx00]

I think the best Android tablets have come from Archos, but even those are not perfect. Android was not an instant hit in the phone market, people forget that it took a while to catch on. I think it will be the same for tablets, but eventually it will prevail.

 

[ericburnby]

[citation][nom]Parsian[/nom]There are more stupid people out there than smart ones hence, naturally, iPad sells more.[/citation]

There are more stupid people out there than smart ones hence, naturally, Android sells more phones.

There, fixed it for you.

 

[ProDigit10]

Blablablablabla cr@p article!

With mobile corei7's any brand can bring a good slate. Especially Asus!

 

[Guest]

It is amazing how elitism in the tech community causes such bias and hatred of a product that is so successful for the main stream. If you don't like it who cares buy all the netbooks and smartphones you can find. I bet you people run around telling people not to buy apple products and spend your free time outside apple stores with signs boycotting their products.

Get a life you people.

I received an iPad as a gift.I thought that I would never use it to replace a laptop and it would sit in my office as a picture frame. It has some flaws but all in all it is a great browser, e-reader and game player for the kids. It has good battery life which makes it useable for most applications, has never crashed, and does not get ridiculously hot in my lap. I hate having to bust out my laptop, insert a wireless card, sit it on my lap just to send an email or access a server and make out an invoice/estimate on the go. Any tablet that can do basic PC functions are better suited for me than a net-book for business and personal. I have a droid 2 for a Smartphone. Smartphones are great for short email, quick web browsing and directions but terrible to read a book on, terrible to watch a movie or tv show on, horrible to browse the web for anything more than a few minutes unless it is under duress, and absolutely ridiculous to type long messages because of size(carpel tunnel FTL). Tablets fill the void in between the two mediums and do a good job at it. Sure there will probably be a better idea in the future but for now I see a tablet as a product that will stay.

 

[nateman1799]

I just want to clarify that my position wrote above is based off of stats, reviews, and repeatedly tested experience. I have no problem with Apple products besides the fact that their pcs are way overpriced and overly simplistic. I don't go around telling everyone to boycott Apple cause for some people...Apple is just what they need for the simplistic stuff they do in their lives. But for someone with years more technical backround and used to using my custom built Windows pc to whatever came to my imagination...naturally I feel somewhat limited under Apple OSes umbrella. I have had to fix more Mac issues in the last 3 years than I have Windows issues. Of course everything in the most simplistic world of computing (browsing, emails, photos, ect) works fine on Mac. Its whenever you try to do something more advanced that the Mac OS has failed me Time after Time after Time after Time. Things I think of as ordinary in Windows are either not available or so hard to get to that noone but an Apple tech would know how to do it. But to this day I still support all formats and OSes. Its really all up to people's preferences. But if you want my opinion...Android is an excellent OS built off of the Linux that has been used, secured, and working for decades. It has far more room for expansion than iOS, being that you have multiple companies manufacturing more variety of hardware and pushing more software out there. You might not want to admit it but iPhones and iPads wouldnt have sold a quarter as many devices if it didn't have any competition. It gives people options.

 

[Fusion777]

Basically I agree with your article, except to dismiss iPad and iPhone as mere adaptations of a pre-existing idea (dynabook) is a cheap shot. With all due respect to the real visionary work of the dynabook, I'm left pondering how far back we really go. Do we dismiss the dynabook because of fascinating ideas by the univac team? And theirs because of amazingly accurate predictions by Jules Verne? I think we must allow the blurry line of evolutionary to sometimes be regarded as creative in its own right. This is true for the music industry, and I think so for IT also.

The iPad sits triumphantly atop a heap of years and years of tablet computing failures. You're right that this took listening, and the guts to take a risk. But there's something else to its success. My opinion is Apple's attention to detail in the tactile user experience is what pushed it over the finish line. I believe there's a real creative quotient in there.

The iPhone liberated us from the pathetic attempts at "convergence" (or lack of attempt). In my book, there was no serious smartphone (maybe blackberry) before the iPhone. Just a bunch of high-powered tiny little computers crammed into a handset with a horrifying UI and a lot of disjointed features. The revolutionary concept was to diminish the actual feature set and emphasize a pleasant and purpose built UI. Again, listening? Absolutely. But their ability to execute on what they observed again falls into creativity (and risk taking).

 

[Fusion777]

but for real haha.... i really do like your article
backhanded complement: achieved

 

[garyhope]

Apple makes very well designed, attractive and incredibly well marketed objects/machines/devices which I'm sure some people use and actually need, but how many people are just Apple fanboy/girl/zombies/cult members who just HAVE to have the latest Apple thing whether they need/want or actually use the devices up to their full potential. I think lots of Appleholics probably just do email, net surfing, games, "apps" and phone calls and texting the same as anyone else but just at a higher price point as part of the club membership. Great looking stuff for about twice the price.

 

[HappyBB]

I have the same feeling that tablet is just Apple's thing. Everything else are just copycats. I also believe why iPad is so successful is because of its content, not hardware. Android Market does not offer the same rich and abundant content as App Store does. If Android Market can enrich its content as much as App Store does, it will attract more audience and fans, as I believe Android is a much better system and platform.

 

[belardo]

[citation][nom]garyhope[/nom]Apple makes very well designed, attractive and incredibly well marketed objects/machines/devices which I'm sure some people use and actually need ~~ I think lots of Appleholics probably just do email, net surfing, games, "apps" and phone calls and texting the same as anyone else but just at a higher price point as part of the club membership. Great looking stuff for about twice the price.[/citation]

A) Some people may need? Hence the modern smart phones by Google, RIM, MS, HP WebOS and even Win7 Mobile are all based off the single-large touch screen design that was pioneered by... APPLE.

Apple did something - designed and marketed a device into a market they never were in before - doing something that Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Sony, Samsung, LG didn't do. What, Apple somehow kept the phone market down?

B) about all the functions at twice the price: Huh? What? You mean the thing that everyone does already? I do those things on my Android phone. What else would people do? Where is the TWICE the price thing your talking about? iPads are $500~800, depending on config. Meanwhile - Samsung comes in at $500+, Motorola XOOM is $800 - period and won't work until you sign up for the 3G, Blackberry tablets are $500~700 with similar config points as the iPads and the new Acer is $450.

Sooo... where are the equal hardware feature set for half the price? You know, the $200~300 tablets by everyone else? Oh yeah... THERE is NO SUCH THING!

In one of the companies I do business with - we have Android phones. we played with a few Android tablets (2 as that is all there was) and bought an iPad1 - because it was still a better product for our needs than any Android. Sure, we do wish it was the iPad2 thou... but we did get a discount. The cameras and faster CPU/GPU would be nice.

The screen and interface sells the iPad. I *will* be buying an iPad3 to add to my first ever Apple product, the iPad1. The Android OS is still NOT polished as iOS... and Google should be doing something about that as we speak. They need to move Android beyond the "me-too", allow the OPENNESS it has now for tech users while going full out on a standard design that doesn't look like iOS. MS did very good with Win7Mobile, interface-wise. But I'd never touch an MS phone.

 

[belardo]

[citation][nom]HappyBB[/nom]I have the same feeling that tablet is just Apple's thing. Everything else are just copycats. I also believe why iPad is so successful is because of its content, not hardware. ~~~[/citation]

As a new iPad owner... I don't agree. I have a bit more content on my Android phone.
The hardware on the iPad is more attractive, simpler and elegant design. The screen size is nice. The interface is nicer.