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Analyst: Apple has created 'overwhelming' lead for iPad

Now, let's be honest: the burgeoning tablet market is not a race. But if it was, says analyst Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank, the iPad would be winning. We're going to see quite a few tablet devices come to market before all is said and done, including the Blackberry PlayBook and products from manufacturers like Dell, Microsoft, and maybe Google. Even after those other tablets come out, Whitmore says the iPad's lead is going to be tough to overcome quickly, if ever. "We expect the slew of upcoming competition to fall flat from a user experience standpoint while struggl[ing] to materially undercut the iPad on price," Whitmore reported.

User experience is a no-brainer -- that's something Apple has always done well, and it's arguable that the iPad is its finest hardware from an accessibility standpoint. But price is something else; Apple has made deals and even manufactured its own chip to create the tantalizing mix of performance and cost found in the iPad. Other manufacturers will have trouble doing the same, especially with the lead Apple already has. According to Whitmore, the App Store has also given Apple a head start on applications, deals with media companies have brought big-name content to the platform, and a slew of competition versus Apple's one-device strategy will create problems for anyone attempting to climb the tablet mountain.

That's not to say that there can't be another successful tablet, it's just that if anyone wants to have another iPad, they've got a lot of work ahead of them. That's not surprising -- Apple has already reaped the benefits of its early grab at a tablet-style computer, and there are much more earnings where those came from.

[via MDN]

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Now, let's be honest: the burgeoning tablet market is not a race. But if it was, says analyst Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank, the iPad...
 

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dancer10

the iPad would be winning, I totally agree with this sentence. As we can see, since ipad was released, how many shocking it had made. Even the ipad converter is competitive. http://www.macipadvideoconverter.net/

October 11 2010 at 5:06 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gerald.irish

Make no mistake, it is unlikely that any one competing tablet PC will outsell the iPad. What is more likely is that the number of Android tablet PC's will eventually eclipse the iPad. The same way that now the number of Android phones being sold is greater than the iPhone.

However, that won't matter too much to Apple because they'll still be making hefty profit per unit sold while the Android competitors will have to squeeze their margins to compete with each other.

October 06 2010 at 10:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
DAP56

iPad has a lead over everyone else? Isn't this obvious? Why does Chris Whitmore of Deutsche Bank get credit for pointing this out? Hahaha. Way to go, Chris!

October 05 2010 at 11:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
junkie

There will be a truckload of tablets next year with Android LemonCake and then we will hear all these articles about how iPad are so expensive and the Android whatever are real competition because they start in price at $499. And how Apple is so closed and mean because they don't allow for this or that crappy thing that we don't really want. And all these devices will sort of look like iPad but work like crap and have horrible battery life and we will be forced to hear all the time how better they are even though they are not. Thats how it will go.

October 05 2010 at 5:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
FightTheFuture

i feel that the tablet PC market is the true revolution of tech. there have been plenty of good smartphones before the iPhone, and people are still buying the same types of phones well after the iPhone established touchscreen hardware and immersive application markets as the new trend in smartphone tech. why are people still buying blackberries and sidekicks if the majority of new phones are touchscreen? because it was an established market that already had a presence.

you couldn't have said the same thing about the iPod. and now you can't for the iPad. the tablet is the new trend. in fact, soon i feel that people might be sick of the smartphone craze and start going back to dumbphones and use tablets for everything but phone calls...

October 05 2010 at 3:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
alansky

It is now almost 3.5 years since the first iPhone hit the streets, and Apple's so-called "competitors" still haven't managed to catch up. In truth, they may never catch up because, unfortunately for them, designing an elegant, intuitive user interface is evidently a very difficult thing to do. So how are these bozos going to compete with the iPad? My guess is: not very successfully.

October 05 2010 at 1:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Donn

Is it a race if you're just running by yourself?

October 05 2010 at 11:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Donn's comment
FightTheFuture

tablet PCs have existed for almost 10 years now.

October 05 2010 at 3:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
steffenjobbs

It'll be a slippery slope for Android tablets to climb to reach the iPad. It'll be interesting to watch them fall flat on their buttocks.

October 05 2010 at 10:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
(ph)

The camera is needed for AR (Augmented Reality) Apps.

October 05 2010 at 9:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to (ph)'s comment
ehusar

I personally don't think that the iPad will ever get a camera on the back. My money is on a forward facing camera only. FaceTime is what it is all about with the camera integration on the iPad. I guess only time will tell.

October 05 2010 at 12:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rich

I believe Chris Whitmore works for the Deutsch*e* Bank.
http://www.db.com

October 05 2010 at 8:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Rich's comment
Michael Rose

fixed, thanks

October 05 2010 at 9:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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