Did Apple bring forward the iPad2 launch due to Honeycomb/Xoom?

[Piggie]

I know there will be many here that will say no, Apple live in a vacuum, they don't even bother to take notice of anyone else, or care what anyone else is making.

Just to make it plain, I don't accept that point of view. Sure they may have different ideas about what parts of a design are more important, or different plans as to where they want a device to go in the long term. but at the end of the day they are in competition with others, and if they don't keep their products compedetitive then people can and will go elsewhere.

With that said................

Seeing all the Hype, and Wow factor the Xoom, and Honeycomb was attracting, together with the no pre-orders and limited supplies to stores.
And more importantly the odd way it was launched before it's 1 year was up, that most people were predicting.

Do you think Apple decided they would announce and launch around 1 month early to try and kill as much as possible Xoom/Honeycomb excitement and turn the attention back to them as soon as possible.

I did post this as a theory many months ago about Apple would want to launch directly after the Xoom to try and kill attention on it, and bring focus back on themselves, and that is really what's actually happened.

If they had launched around the time everyone was expecting, 4 weeks or so from now, stock levels would have been much better for everyone also.

It does all point to the fact that they changed their mind and launched a few weeks before originally planned.

 

[BergerFan]

I doubt that very much.

 

[phobic99]

I wouldn't be surprised if they did. It's no surprise that Apple really doesn't want Android to gain the momentum in the tablet sector that it did in the phone sector. If there's anything Apple can do to redirect the public's attention off of Android, they'll do it.

Honestly, the later half of the year is when the tablet "wars" will really start to get interesting.

 

[ZBoater]

Fanboys can't see it but I am sure the business leaders at Apple are not complacent. They perceive threats and realize their money making machine, while impressive, needs to be defended constantly. Think IBM in the 80s. You can be on top of the world today, but tomorrow is another story.

Android came out of nowhere and in less than two years presents a real threat to the iPhone. It wouldn't surprise me that they adopted a more aggressive stance to try and kill Honeycomb in its infancy to avoid a similar situation in the tablet space.

Google has too much cash to let that happen, and there are too many non-Apple tablet manufacturers that want a piece of Apple pie. I think Apple perceives Honeycomb to be a potential threat to its dominance of the tablet market and what you say is very plausible.

In the end we as consumers benefit. Having options and healthy competition is good.

 

[vrDrew]

Seeing all the Hype, and Wow factor the Xoom, and Honeycomb was attracting, together with the no pre-orders and limited supplies to stores..

I think thats exactly the opposite of what happened.

It was Motorola who rushed the Xoom into stores. Why else would they ship a product that requires a costly and inconvenient service upgrade? Or ship the thing before the patch that lets it run Flash is ready? Or ship it when the Honeycomb SDK had only been out for a week? Answer: Because Motorola knew darned well the iPad 2 was coming this Spring (they didn't know when, exactly) but they knew if they'd waited another three months, Apple would have sold another 6-8 million iPads, and the market for tablets would be even further out of reach.

There is pretty much zero credible evidence Apple shipped the iPad 2 prematurely. The thing has obviously been in mass production for at least a couple of weeks. The A5 processors have codes on them that indicate they were made in January and February of this year.

In the Tablet marketplace Apple is the leader. Its their competitors that are running around shipping half-finished junk or constantly promising vaporware.

 

[nixiemaiden]

I don't think so. If I remember right ipad1 was originally supposed to be in March but it got delayed.

If anything I think google and motorola rushed to market to try and get in before ipad2 hype started.

 

[sanford]

I don't think there was any rushing on Apple's part. They own the market. Be hard to lose the market that quickly to bulkier tablets almost twice the price that have no real developer support (yet, since the dev kit was just released).

The lack of retina display and weak rear-facing camera don't seem to me like rushing. They seem like pacing. Bump the performance specs to support improved display and higher resolution camera, while taking advantage of lower part prices on the display and current cameras. Then next year drop in the better display and cameras, maintain the price point.

It's a complicated game. You want the iPad 2 to capture customers for whom the original iPad didn't feel like enough. Who wanted videoconferencing or video recording or whatever. But you don't want to alienate the customer base who thought the original iPad was plenty. Because that's 15 million people. And you want them buying apps, and you want lots of new apps that still run perfectly well on the original model. You certainly don't want disenfranchised original iPad owners jumping ship to Android because you leapfrogged them too much with the first revision.

You have to remember, everybody loves to buy toys with their disposable income. But it's very few people who spend all, or even the bulk, of their disposal income on tech toys alone. There are all sorts of ways to spend your money and a lot of people, sure, they want an iPad. Last year they wanted an iPad. They bought one. This year they want a 3D TV and a nice vacation, not another iPad. Most people live to the extremes of their means. I know people who make spare income, have 10 kids or whatever, they're always broke and can't justify buying a new iPad. I know people who make four times what the other family makes, they have no kids, they're always broke and can't justify buying a new iPad.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Apple would have been nuts if it did not. It's just good business. Plus it is typical Apple M.O. to squeeze the life out other companies publicity like a boa constrictor to make sure competing products never get much consumer traction. They did the same thing announcing the iPhone 4 early too b/c of all the Droid action bubbling up.

We are talking weeks early here, not months. But, yes, Apple wanted to get ahead of the Xoom. I think that is clear from Jobs presentation where one of the bullet points was the iPad 2 would be the first dual core tab to ship in volume. And Jobs emphasized "volume."

 

[ZBoater]

...Be hard to lose the market that quickly to bulkier tablets almost twice the price that have no real developer support...

Prone to a little hyperbole, are we? Or are we comapring a 16GB wifi price to a 32GB 3G (with free 4G upgrade) model?

 

[sanford]

Prone to a little hyperbole, are we? Or are we comapring a 16GB wifi price to a 32GB 3G (with free 4G upgrade) model?

No, I don't think so. 16GB wifi of course. Consumers tend to think in entry level price points. And the 16GB wifi remains the most popular SKU.

Anyway, I'm not arguing against something like the Xoom in the area of tech specs and potential top-end performance. iPad is an Apple product. Apple has always sold its consumer products on things other than technical specifications. Until the iPhone 4, iPhones had weak camera compared to almost all other smartphones. But people still went mad for them.

I think there's a sustainable market for Android tablets. I think there's like no chance that market will ever seriously encroach on the iPad market. This is like discussing how many more Wiis were sold than PS3s. Wii is selling to a certain kind of game consumer. Apple is selling to a certain kind of tablet consumer (really, the kind of tablet consumer who never even knew they wanted a tablet, like iPhone became the smartphone for people who never really saw the point of a smartphone).

Apple won't remain the leader of consumer computing/communicating devices forever. But for the next 5 - 10 years, very likely. They're still making very appealing products. And even if they slip, people are invested in the Apple brand and ecosystem. Will take them some time to escape even for better products from competitors.

 

[anjinha]

Prone to a little hyperbole, are we? Or are we comapring a 16GB wifi price to a 32GB 3G (with free 4G upgrade) model?

What if you don't want 3G and 32GB? If you go with the Xoom you'll still pay $800. If you go with the iPad you save $300.

 

[ZBoater]

What if you don't want 3G and 32GB? If you go with the Xoom you'll still pay $800. If you go with the iPad you save $300.

You wait for the wifi model to come out and compare apples to.... err, never mind.

 

[No1up]

You wait for the wifi model to come out and compare apples to.... err, never mind.

ZBOATER!!! I SAID, GO PEEPEE ON THE XOOM OUTSIDE!! BAD BOY! BAD! No treat for you..

 

[No1up]

Zboater, did you get the iPad 2?

Could you put cons and pros vs the xoom? I'm not very impressed with the iPad 2. Thinking of taking it back and getting a xoom and a n iPad 1....

 

[Jason Edwards]

I think thats exactly the opposite of what happened.

It was Motorola who rushed the Xoom into stores. Why else would they ship a product that requires a costly and inconvenient service upgrade? Or ship the thing before the patch that lets it run Flash is ready? Or ship it when the Honeycomb SDK had only been out for a week? Answer: Because Motorola knew darned well the iPad 2 was coming this Spring (they didn't know when, exactly) but they knew if they'd waited another three months, Apple would have sold another 6-8 million iPads, and the market for tablets would be even further out of reach.

There is pretty much zero credible evidence Apple shipped the iPad 2 prematurely. The thing has obviously been in mass production for at least a couple of weeks. The A5 processors have codes on them that indicate they were made in January and February of this year.

In the Tablet marketplace Apple is the leader. Its their competitors that are running around shipping half-finished junk or constantly promising vaporware.

This is exactly how I see it.

 

[ZBoater]

Zboater, did you get the iPad 2?

Could you put cons and pros vs the xoom? I'm not very impressed with the iPad 2. Thinking of taking it back and getting a xoom and a n iPad 1....

I did not. Went to two Apple stores and several Best Buys/Walmarts/Targets and no luck. I was looking for the black 64gb at&t model. Will keep trying though...

Right now I have the Xoom and the iPad 1, and decided to keep the Xoom. I have a ton of apps on my iPad so I can't abandon it just yet. But on they other hand I am having too much fun with Android. I am definitely suffering through "early adopter" pains but between rooting, OCing, flash, Widgets, Live Wallpapers, and access to the file system I am having waaaaaaay too much fun with my Xoom to return it.

 

[Rasta4i]

I don't think so. If I remember right ipad1 was originally supposed to be in March but it got delayed.

If anything I think google and motorola rushed to market to try and get in before ipad2 hype started.

That's what happened.

 

[No1up]

I did not. Went to two Apple stores and several Best Buys/Walmarts/Targets and no luck. I was looking for the black 64gb at&t model. Will keep trying though...

Right now I have the Xoom and the iPad 1, and decided to keep the Xoom. I have a ton of apps on my iPad so I can't abandon it just yet. But on they other hand I am having too much fun with Android. I am definitely suffering through "early adopter" pains but between rooting, OCing, flash, Widgets, Live Wallpapers, and access to the file system I am having waaaaaaay too much fun with my Xoom to return it.

With all that going, do you still get 10hours?? Also any office apps like pages??

 

[diabolic]

I think thats exactly the opposite of what happened.

It was Motorola who rushed the Xoom into stores. Why else would they ship a product that requires a costly and inconvenient service upgrade? Or ship the thing before the patch that lets it run Flash is ready? Or ship it when the Honeycomb SDK had only been out for a week? Answer: Because Motorola knew darned well the iPad 2 was coming this Spring (they didn't know when, exactly) but they knew if they'd waited another three months, Apple would have sold another 6-8 million iPads, and the market for tablets would be even further out of reach.

This is most likely reality.

As Engadget said in their iPad 2 review:

"It might frustrate the competition to hear this, but it needs to be said: the iPad 2 isn't just the best tablet on the market, it feels like the only tablet on the market. As much as we'd like to say that something like the Xoom has threatened Apple's presence in this space, it's difficult (if not impossible) to do that."

Honeycomb is still a relative mess when compared to iOS, even if it does a few things better.

 

[SactoGuy18]

Best thing about the iPad--it uses the well-proven ecosystem that originated in 2007 with the first iPhone. And unlike the Motorola Xoom, the iPad feels like everything was put together with a lot of thought and care, especially the way it integrates with iTunes 10.2.1 on your desktop/laptop computer. Indeed, didn't Apple admit that iOS was originally developed for a tablet computer and got translated into the interface for the iPhone?

 

[kdarling]

I think it's a combination of events and triggers.

Motorola definitely rushed out the Xoom to get some sales and attention before the iPad2.

Apple, instead of waiting longer, then released the iPad2 before Xoom publicity could grow. I think otherwise Apple would've waited until they had 5.0.

 

[ZBoater]

With all that going, do you still get 10hours?? Also any office apps like pages??

Docs2Go works great. I miss Goodreader.

I haven't used flash enough to say about battery life. Subjectively I'd say my iPad 1 gives me better life, but it not may be a fair comparison since the Xoom is new and I haven't put it down since I gotten it. OCing it doesn't seem to have negatively impacted it either. That I assume is because the software I use also underclocks it to 216mhz when not needed.

 

[ZBoater]

Honeycomb is still a relative mess when compared to iOS, even if it does a few things better.

I agree with this 100% It was sent out the door prematurely.

 

[shen]

Seeing all the Hype, and Wow factor the Xoom, and Honeycomb was attracting, together with the no pre-orders and limited supplies to stores.

...

If they had launched around the time everyone was expecting, 4 weeks or so from now, stock levels would have been much better for everyone also.

If that is the reason, seeing the hype and wow of the xoom, they would have waited until May...

In general, even when compared to the first iPad, the Xoom has been nothing more than a spec sheet for Androids to get worked up over. Review after review state that it crashes, feels laggy, and seems half baked. It was a year newer than the iPad, and yet offered no reason to get it over the old iPad except 1) you really think you need cameras (which, except for facetime is the least impressive idea for this form factor EVER) or 2) you REALLY hate Apple. Honeycomb was rushed, not the 2nd iPad.

If the first iPad had been properly setup, without delay, and stock ready, this would be the 1 year point. As early as 14 moths ago there was speculation that early to mid march was the day planned for launch and something slipped. The fact that they have no really competition at all, despite what the 12 droid fans who can't leave this forum think, means they have the luxury of any release they choose.

Reality, it is time for the droid fans to face it.

 

[ZBoater]

The fact that they have no really competition at all, despite what the 12 droid fans who can't leave this forum think, means they have the luxury of any release they choose.

Reality, it is time for the droid fans to face it.

Funny, I seem to recall similar comments when not too long ago the G1 came out with no hope against the mighty iPhone. Interesting how fast things can change.

And for the the record, there's only 11 of us...