iPad 2 = Tablet Killer?

The iPad is a tablet, so I would not call it a killer. It's more like a redefiner.

I have to agree. It's the same problem most windows computers have. Apple makes the hardware and the software. They are married together in such way that everything works. If honeycomb gets more apps, which they will, it could be an alternative. It is annoying not having flash. Heck, I would take flash lite. I just want to be able to watch some videos sometimes...like on engadget I don't like using multiple browsers like sky fire etc. The thing that kills honeycomb tablets is the lack of motivation to support for more than a year...just like android phones.

Hp and webos could be an iPad "killer" as they make the hardware and software. I just don't hp has the vision or finess that Apple has.

Cool story bro, but I have a Panasonic CF-C1 Toughbook tablet and it does a few things the iPad 8 doesn't.

For the casual consumer, the iPad 2 is great. For serious professionals, it is a big phone. IMO, as always.

Are you saying that the iPad is committing suicide? Or cannibalism?

lPHONE said:

When I say killer, I mean literally- iPad 2 was such a heavy blow that if I was a tablet maker, I think I'd throw in the towel...

I honestly feel sorry for anyone who bought a Zoom. That whole droid thing was short lived. Not that anything's wrong with it, but I think the mainstream is growing accustomed to IOS and how the devices and apps integrate with each other.

I don't know about you, but you could make a tablet that's twice as fast with 5x the memory and I'd still take an iPad. I'm just so used to the interface and the simplicity of syncing with iTunes that I don't want to learn a new system.

What is really comes down to is the apps, right? iPad had 2010 in the bag and as far as I can tell it's got 2011 also. Can the copycats can even catch up? Are they making any profit or just losing money? If so, do you think they'll quit?

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"the whole droid thing was short lived"

what? last time i checked android is the #1 smartphone OS in the US.

I hear people say that for "real professionals" the iPad isn't right? :roll eyes:

I hate to tell you, but there are plenty of us who do a lot of work on the iPad. I've been working on the iPad since it came out and have been very productive with it. Now I have the iPad 2 and it's blazingly fast.

Zaft said:

"the whole droid thing was short lived"

what? last time i checked android is the #1 smartphone OS in the US.

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That's because it's cheap. Yeah, a lot of people bought Ford Pintos too.

lPHONE said:

Yea because they're so cheap.
Radio Shack – Android Phones Under $50 – December, 2010


What I don't understand, is how they can claim "#1 selling" when they GIVE THEM AWAY FOR FREE.

• Does Motorola out sell the iPhone? No.
• Does HTC out sell the iPhone? No.
• Does Samsung out sell the iPhone? No.
• Does Sanyo out sell the iPhone? No.
• Does LG out sell the iPhone? No.
• No, No, No, No...

But when you put them all together (and give them away for free) you get OS market share. Of course all the big manufacturers are going to Android, because they can't have IOS!

Besides, who said anything about smartphones anyway? I obviously meant Android tablets... And no, they are NOT outselling iPad- NO ONE IS EVEN CLOSE.

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well said, almost a coup de grace to those trying to say otherwise.

opticalserenity said:

I hear people say that for "real professionals" the iPad isn't right? :roll eyes:

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I roll my eyes at this too. Its just a blanket statement by people who don't think creatively.

I use my iPad to show of my portfolio. It works wonders and people WANT to look at it simply because its interactive and not only do they love playing with the iPad, but they like looking at what is displayed on it.

Not for professionals? Ya right.

Yes, low prices can help sales.

The iPhone didn't take off in Japan until it was free on contract. It's also free or almost free, in other countries. This accounts for millions of "sales".

Then there's the $49 iPhone 3GS, priced to catch more buyers.

Of course, it would be naive to claim that price is the only reason for sales of any phone. People also need to like what they're buying.

All the android tablets are just so awful that you can't even call them a tabtel. The ipad is a real tablet. And those who wan't OS X on the ipad are welcome to buy a hp tablet with windows on it and see how good it feels

lPHONE said:

When I say killer, I mean literally- iPad 2 was such a heavy blow that if I was a tablet maker, I think I'd throw in the towel...

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That's probably why you're not in the business, giving up is not something that serious companies do no matter how tough it is.

There's no such thing as a ________ killer.

Insert whatever you want in the blank space but businesses just don't quit as easy as you're suggesting.

Just because the iPad is a success presently is no assurance that it will be impossible for competitors to catch up and surpass it.

It'd be a boring world if everyone had but one choice.

lPHONE said:

When I say killer, I mean literally- iPad 2 was such a heavy blow that if I was a tablet maker, I think I'd throw in the towel...

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Not likely.

Believe it or not, there are people out there that do not like apple (or their products), or iOS. There are other consumers out there where the iPad 2 does not meet their needs.

While the iPad 2 is a great device, it cannot and will not fit everyone's needs for a variety of reasons. As 2011 rolls on we will see more and more manufacturers release their tablets.

I'll also go out on a limb and state that at some point (probably 2012/2013) that android based tablets will have a greater tablet marketshare then the iPad.

No, it's not going to kill the tablet market and Android stands a good chance of catching up in the long run as the sort of hardware we see today becomes cheaper and cheaper and 'good enough' devices become almost trivial purchases.

That said... I suspect the big name manufacturers are a tad worried right now. Samsung, Motorola, LG etc are up against it and they've got to know it by now too. Yes, there's a market there for a non-Apple product which they can fill for now but that's going to get swallowed in the tablet market the same way ZTE and the like are starting to gobble up the smartphone market. Honeycomb is still very new and needs time to mature and for native apps to come out. By the time it does iOS5 will be available and eyes will start to turn to iPad 3.

Honestly I think one of the big boys needs to take a proper risk, start ignoring the spec sheet and focus on producing something to match (or ideally better) the iPad in terms of materials, build quality and overall user experience.

I agree that killer may be appropriate given the current competition. I love Apple products, but at the same time wish there were some more formidable opponents. The competition however is mostly a bunch of hardware companies trying to run the same type of software. So maybe their hardware will be amazing, but it is only as good as the software available. This is identical to the Mac vs. PC debate. Apple's hands on with the creation of the software and the hardware and how they interact with each other is what sets them apart from everybody else. Comparing is like Apple vs. oranges.

The lack of flash doesn't really bother me most of the time on my iPad2. Skyfire Browser fills in some of the holes nicely. And besides, the Xoom has been tested to have glitchy flash support . And for those thinking that they will be able to access Hulu on a Xoom, your wrong, it's blocked even with the flash support. A lot of good sites are making dedicated apps for the iPad and html5 is becoming more widely used. So the most talked about iOS flaw (lack of flash) is really not THAT huge of a deal and eventually won't be an issue at all. An easy price to pay for seamless software/hardware integration that just does not exist anywhere else.

I'm inclined to agree with the OP

No one's breaking new ground or innovating in hardware or software like Apple. Sure Apple only gets incrementally better (on both fronts) slowly and steadily, but they're already ahead, and pulling further ahead. No one can touch them in industrial design and - startlingly - on price. The $499 starting point for the iPad was a total shocker, we all thought $700-900. Keeping the iPad 2 at the same price and incredible battery life while making it crazy-thin is another coup.

When Apple corners a market, it's hard to compete. Sure others have made money on lowball MP3 players, and all competition-combined compare favorable to the iPhone, but make no mistake, the iPhone is a wild success, and continues to grow, and the iPad just takes that to another level.

Wow! I checked the title of this thread and was surprised to read that a reasonable discussion has broken out. Being that we're on a site dedicated to Apple, most of us are fans of their products. It's no secret that the iPad 2 has raised the bar that much higher for the competition. However, looking at Apple's other product lines, none of their competition ever "packs it in" because Apple makes a superior product. On the contrary, they flood the market with inferior products and eventually undersell Apple on price to gain market share. This hasn't happened yet with tablets because the competition hasn't been able to purchase tablet components on the open market cheaply and compete with Apple on price (irregardless of the quality of the product they're pushing out).

I doubt it will completely 'kill off' any of the more serious competition, simply for the fact that as has already been mentioned there are a good number of people who will simply refuse to buy anything from Apple, whether for reasonable or unreasonable reasons. There's people who WANT Flash no matter what, and will pay more just to have it. There's those who think tablets should have digital camera-level photographic capabilities. There's those who think even the price of the iPad is too high and will buy a far inferior cheaper tablet (technically it should be 'slate' I believe, but 'tablet' is what most people are used to calling them...).

There's also just plenty of people for whom it's overkill for. Yesterday while out at dinner and playing with my iPad 2, the waitress asked about it and what it cost and flinched at the price (both of my 32GB and the entry level one), and said she couldn't see paying that much when she just wanted to read books on it. I told her that if she really just was interested in books, she would likely be far better served with the much more specialized and inexpensive Kindle for 1/3 or so of the price of an iPad.

I don't think it's correct to claim that "no one else innovates".

HTC, for one, is tops on my list of actually taking chances, instead of always playing it safe like Apple does.

The HTC Flyer, with its active pen, is an example. HTC Sense itself, with its emphasis on collating contact info/events/pics, is another. Heck, HTC even managed to make the latter versions of Windows Mobile usable, which was an incredible feat.

Future phones will be intelligent and active assistants. I do think we'll see most of that kind of innovation from companies other than Apple. (Although I'd love to see Apple go that way.)

I think the only thing about the iPad 2 that's "killer" is it's $499 price point. The hardware, while good, is nothing ZOMG UBAR PWNZ. It will be matched (and/or beaten) shortly. The OS, again while spectacular, is getting stale and missing key features; I don't just mean Flash, I mean a notification system that doesn't suck.

Regardless, I love my iPad

nightfly13 said:

No one's breaking new ground or innovating in hardware or software like Apple.

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kdarling said:

I don't think it's correct to claim that "no one else innovates".

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I'm in agreement with kdarling on this.

Just look at the xoom, or the soon to be released palm tablets. Both from a hardware perspective and software. While many people here would slam the xoom for being too expensive, it is quite innovative. Plus when you look at honeycomb, its UI is extremely innovative.

As for the HP/Palm tablet. Early indications are quite positive, whether HP can capitalize on it is another topic.