If It Isn't an iPad, Consumers Don't Give a Sh*t
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When Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) launched its iPad tablet PC in mid-2010, it sparked a bit of a revolution.
Though Apple began trying out tablet computers as early as 1987 with it's Newton platform, technology to make tablets a go-to source has only recently been developed. And Apple certainly knew how to capitalize on that.
Other PC manufacturers? Not so much.
Reports Friday morning suggest consumers don't have tablet fever; they just want an iPad.
This is probably no surprise to anyone who follows or has a vested interest in Apple: the company regularly reports millions in tablet sales every quarter.
The proof is in the pudding. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Motorola (NYSE: MMI) have both cut prices to draw demand. Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM), among other things, has it's tablet only being offered through limited channels, and the tablet wasn't even complete at launch (users would later have to download an email server, for example).
While Apple has sold some 28.7 million iPads since launch last year, competitors only disclose shipment numbers, not sales figures. Motorola says it shipped 690,000 of its Xoom tablets, while RIM says it has sent 500,000 tablets to carriers.
The closest competitor to Apple is Samsung, which said it shipped two million Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android-based tablets in January. Samsung is now caught up in a patent dispute with Apple and has since stopped disclosing shipment numbers.
Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker said its TouchPad tablet would be "perfect" upon debut, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reviewers of the product disagreed, complaining about "glitchy" performance and "sub-standard" hardware. Makes you wonder: Can't Hewlett-Packard bring in some testers, professional, tech-savvy testers, before launching a product which it has sunk millions, if not billions into?
Either way, analysts have said Apple will continue to dominate the tablet computer market for the foreseeable future, and with current figures the way they are, who's to disagree?
Apple is up 0.5 percent early Friday.
Though Apple began trying out tablet computers as early as 1987 with it's Newton platform, technology to make tablets a go-to source has only recently been developed. And Apple certainly knew how to capitalize on that.
Other PC manufacturers? Not so much.
Reports Friday morning suggest consumers don't have tablet fever; they just want an iPad.
This is probably no surprise to anyone who follows or has a vested interest in Apple: the company regularly reports millions in tablet sales every quarter.
The proof is in the pudding. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Motorola (NYSE: MMI) have both cut prices to draw demand. Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM), among other things, has it's tablet only being offered through limited channels, and the tablet wasn't even complete at launch (users would later have to download an email server, for example).
While Apple has sold some 28.7 million iPads since launch last year, competitors only disclose shipment numbers, not sales figures. Motorola says it shipped 690,000 of its Xoom tablets, while RIM says it has sent 500,000 tablets to carriers.
The closest competitor to Apple is Samsung, which said it shipped two million Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android-based tablets in January. Samsung is now caught up in a patent dispute with Apple and has since stopped disclosing shipment numbers.
Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker said its TouchPad tablet would be "perfect" upon debut, according to the Wall Street Journal. Reviewers of the product disagreed, complaining about "glitchy" performance and "sub-standard" hardware. Makes you wonder: Can't Hewlett-Packard bring in some testers, professional, tech-savvy testers, before launching a product which it has sunk millions, if not billions into?
Either way, analysts have said Apple will continue to dominate the tablet computer market for the foreseeable future, and with current figures the way they are, who's to disagree?
Apple is up 0.5 percent early Friday.
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