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iPad Has already Won the 'Tablet Wars'

BergerFan

BergerFan

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 6, 2008
2,170
63
Mos Eisley
For iPad, read iPod. Perception is everything.
The iPad has come in, where there was very little or no real consumer market, before it and quickly became ubiquitous long before any rivals had released any product(regardless of whether they're better or not).
'iPad' has entered the general public's vernacular already, and will be the average consumer's(whose numbers far outweigh the tech geeks) first port of call when evaluating their tablet purchases.
 
andiwm2003 said:
you mean it has won like the iPhone has won the smartphone wars? what is androids market share again?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Who mentioned iPhone?

And they are destroying the other smartphone mfrs. in profitability.
 
These "wars" are rarely won outright. At one point IE had won the browser wars and had 95% market share. What are they down to now? Something like 50-60%? Who honestly saw that coming?

If Apple ever think they have won and stop innovating and improving the product (like MS did with IE) then they will pay for that arrogance.
 
The "war" isn't over yet so no one was won. Besides, competition is good because it gives reason for improvement and trying to be better than the competition.
 
I can see the tablet market going two ways. It could end up being a relatively small niche market or it could go truly mainstream. If tablets stay as a niche then I could see Apple dominating for a long time as they've produced the first competent example and so far nobody has produced a really compelling alternative.

However if tablets become mainstream devices that huge numbers of people own then I think Apple's competitors will respond because they have to. Microsoft especially can't let the mainstream realise that they can do computing stuff on platforms that aren't Windows. So far Windows Tablet PCs have been a real mess with UIs and hardware that isn't optimised for the form-factor. If their monopoly is truly threatened then I can see them being forced to produce a real alternative to an iPad.
 
dukeblue91 said:
Actually yes, name me one phone model that sells better then the iPhone and no Android is not a phone but a OS.
Click to expand...

+1! Completely true though.

Android, as far as OSs go is only the winner in OS share because its on more phones, not necessarily because its better. Android is being ruined as we speak from cell phone manufacturers, pretty soon it'll only be a shell of its former self on most handsets.
 
I have a feeling that BergerFan's point was actually about winning the impending "tablet war" particularly in the sense of hearts and minds.

It goes something like this:

Cola Soft Drink= Coke
Facial Tissue= Kleenex
MP3 Player= iPod
Tablet Computer= iPad

It's not about specs or operating systems, it's more about being ubiquitous, and it that sense, I think the OP will most likely be proven right, no matter how much RAM or how many USB ports competitors build into their products.
 
Well, Microsoft has had slates and tablets out for over a decade. Slates sold very poorly, because typing with a pen sucks. (Windows tablets almost all used a pen, most have Wacom digitizers that require a special "active" pen.)

The tablets sold better, although a better name for them might have been convertibles. I have one of the Windows Tablets made by Toshiba. The screen flips and swivels into a Laptop format, or swivels and folds flat for Slate format.

I would pull the Toshiba out now and then to sketch stuff mostly. Truth be told, since I got my iPad I haven't powered up the Toshiba once. In that regard, the iPad has already won the war at least in my home.

So yeah, after a 10 year Microsoft Lock on a very niche market, Apple comes along, unseats the leader, and tablets push into the mainstream. How mainstream? It's hard to say.

I suspect that they will in 10-15 years totally replace the things we call laptops today. There are already a lot of flexible/foldable high res color screens in labs and Universities today. Once you can roll up your 12" x 40" working area, or fold up a 12"x12" square "tablet" into a 3"x6" rectangle "phone", I see the old style laptop form going the way of CRTs and Line-Printers.
 
Northgrove said:
The tablet "war" has merely begun. The iPad (re-)ignited it.
Click to expand...

The Tablet has been around for many years already. Same for the infamous PocketPC and UMPC. All three gained limited market acceptance.

The iPad is the first Tablet to gain a very wide consumer acceptance, and has opened the road for new and more innovative similar devices to be developed. Many died at the initial stage, as their producers saw them as potential failures against the iPad, so they went back to their drawing boards to try to come up with something better.

The iPad has started the race for new portable devices, and is forcing those who want to compete, to innovate and try to create a better device than the iPad.

The above is definitely great for us, the consumers.:D

Who would imagine having such thin and light portable device with a touchscreen, made out of high quality glass and aluminum?
Any potential iPad killer would need to have the same or better quality, besides open functionality and USB ports.

So far, nothing else has impressed me much...:(
 
In all reality, it comes down to the OS of the device, and every device mentioned in this thread has remained extremely niche because of this, and it's interface environment. People like iPad because it works, and it's an Apple product. The ease of use, polished UI and quite honestly, the app store are what sells this device. The fact that it only has 256MB of RAM is a great example of how little the hardware actually matters in comparison. While other tablet manufacturers are trying to fill their devices to the brim with hardware, they still don't sell because the user's experience sucks, and that is all that matters in the end.

</end rant>
 
gatearray said:
I have a feeling that BergerFan's point was actually about winning the impending "tablet war" particularly in the sense of hearts and minds.

It goes something like this:

Cola Soft Drink= Coke
Facial Tissue= Kleenex
MP3 Player= iPod
Tablet Computer= iPad

It's not about specs or operating systems, it's more about being ubiquitous, and it that sense, I think the OP will most likely be proven right, no matter how much RAM or how many USB ports competitors build into their products.
Click to expand...

Exactly, much like you don't buy adhesive bandages, you buy Band-Aids. You don't search the internet, you Google it. You don't photocopy, you Xerox it. I've already overheard people saying that HP is coming out with an "iPad".
 
SteveG4Cube said:
Exactly, much like you don't buy adhesive bandages, you buy Band-Aids. You don't search the internet, you Google it. You don't photocopy, you Xerox it. I've already overheard people saying that HP is coming out with an "iPad".
Click to expand...

My favorite is the parody video (I saw it on collegehumor.com, I dunno where it originated from). It's like a commercial advertising Bing, and it says "With Bing, you can Google anything on the internet. You can Google pictures, google videos, google websites, and even google restauraunts, all with Bing."

I thought that basically summed it up nicely.
 
If by tablet, you mean a iPad like device for people to use to browse the Internet while sitting on their ass watching T.V then sure, iPad has won it.

For the future of tablet devices for other real world applications, I think we still have to wait and see.
 
A man cannot win a race if he runs alone.

Only by having worthwhile opponents to compete against can he ever be called a winner.
 
gatearray said:
I have a feeling that BergerFan's point was actually about winning the impending "tablet war" particularly in the sense of hearts and minds.

It goes something like this:

Cola Soft Drink= Coke
Facial Tissue= Kleenex
MP3 Player= iPod
Tablet Computer= iPad

It's not about specs or operating systems, it's more about being ubiquitous, and it that sense, I think the OP will most likely be proven right, no matter how much RAM or how many USB ports competitors build into their products.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends who and where you are.

I would ask for a coke, but I would ask someone for a tissue. I would also ask if they have an mp3 player, as for a tablet it's not something I've thought about asking yet.

No one I have ever known has asked for a Kleenex. They always ask for a tissue.
 
SteveG4Cube said:
Exactly, much like you don't buy adhesive bandages, you buy Band-Aids. You don't search the internet, you Google it. You don't photocopy, you Xerox it. I've already overheard people saying that HP is coming out with an "iPad".
Click to expand...

Perhaps you might in the US. Not here - we don't have Band-Aids, only plasters. While we may Google, we definitely don't Xerox. We do hoover rather than vacuum the carpet, though.

Apple's success and mindshare varies from country to country. Way too early to call the iPad the winner when supplies outside of Apple's pet favourite markets are low to non-existant.
 
weckart said:
Perhaps you might in the US. Not here - we don't have Band-Aids, only plasters. While we may Google, we definitely don't Xerox. We do hoover rather than vacuum the carpet, though.

Apple's success and mindshare varies from country to country. Way too early to call the iPad the winner when supplies outside of Apple's pet favourite markets are low to non-existant.
Click to expand...

Plasters for me too.

Sellotape
Cling Film
Plasters
Tablet (not iPad)
Space Hopper :)
 
dukeblue91 said:
Actually yes, name me one phone model that sells better then the iPhone and no Android is not a phone but a OS.
Click to expand...

The "tablet wars" will be decided on the OS, not the hardware. That is because that platform will win that has the most and best content to offer.

If Android becomes the largest OS platform on tablets then that is the OS that will have the most and best content. If this is the case then customers will buy Android tablets.

The example of the iPhone shows that android phones gained 50% market share in a short time frame. So the "smart phone war" is far from over and apple is under immense pressure to keep its lead.

For tablets it's the same. Apple has to make sure to become and stay the dominant platform. Otherwise app developers, magazines, books, video platforms will first cater to the android market and therefore make the Ipad less attractive. So like in the iPhone market the "tablet war" is far from over.
 
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