Or a shorter version: "Apple doesn't offer the specific kind of tablet I want, therefore all the tablets they do offer are objectively equivalent". This is clearly incorrect, and would apply just as much to every other product line Apple has.
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How will Apple counter Windows 8 tablets?
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Or a shorter version: "Apple doesn't offer the specific kind of tablet I want, therefore all the tablets they do offer are objectively equivalent". This is clearly incorrect, and would apply just as much to every other product line Apple has.
If Apple's only laptop was the MacBook Air, in Wifi or 3G Mode, with 3 memory sides and a black or white lid.
Then I, and I think most others would say Apple only make 1 Laptop
If Ford made a a car with the same engine, same body but had 3 sizes of fuel tank, a Radio or CD player and came in two colours.
Then everyone would say Ford was only making the one car.
Apple only make one tablet and that's that.
You haven't explained how some kinds of product differentiation means 'multiple models' and other kinds of product differentiation doesn't. It's special pleading at its worst.
Apple clearly modifies its products and offers multiple options to address different consumer needs, and this applies to the iPad. The fact that they don't offer the options you want doesn't mean that they don't offer choices to appeal to different consumers.
Even if we suppose this conceit were true (it isn't, for reasons already given) then how come the iPad is so successful? They've defined a market and crushed the competition for years. There aren't huge swaths of potential consumers who refuse to buy iPads because of insufficient differentiation. And even if Apple expands their tablet range there will still be niches they aren't addressing, for which increased differentiation would not be a reasonable solution.
First and foremost, because Apple is the cool/in fashion thing at the moment, and no matter how good a product is, you can't compete with that the public currently feel is a "cool/hip/trendy" product.
If the same tablet product was made my an unknown company in Kazakhstan then it would probably never have even gained the enthusiasm to make it a popular product in the 1st place.
If we put that to one side, it is the better constructed product of it's type at the moment with the largest software base (see point one above)
Apple is Cool at the moment, and thats it. Just as Sony's Playstation was Cool and the think to have.
The same way Nike Trainers, or Levi's jeans are cool.
That's not to say the product is a bad one, far from it. But you can't compete with cool.
Or rather you can, but your product have to be in-your-face better to overcome this cool factor.
Or course, there are many who'd never dream of ever buying any Apple product as they just don't want to get caught up in this whole thing.
What? My point was:
If differentiation is what will garner success, then how come Apple, which hasn't relied heavily on broad differentiation, has been so successful?
And you tell me it's because Apple is seen as 'cool'. If 'cool' is what counts, then why are you harping on differentiation as what will make Windows 8 tablets successful?
If differentiation is what will garner success, then how come Apple, which hasn't relied heavily on broad differentiation, has been so successful?
And you tell me it's because Apple is seen as 'cool'. If 'cool' is what counts, then why are you harping on differentiation as what will make Windows 8 tablets successful?
Yup good points made. I remember Harley Davidson building crap Bikes in the 80's. No one wanted them. The dealers would place mats underneath the Bike to soak up the oil dripping from the crankcase.
Then all of a sudden Harley turned it's image around and every biker wanted a Harley, even little Japanese guys had to have a Harley.
Yet there were and still are better built and more reliable Bikes on the road especially from Japan. But it's hard to compete with Cool.
If you want to fly and the only plane in the sky is the Sopwith Camel, you either don't fly or you have to go with the Sopwith Camel.
Apple customers who wanted a tablet have had no choice, they either buy the (in effect) one model Apple make, or they go without.
Given that choice they bought the only thing there was to buy.
Production constraints for Windows 8 Tablets
I think the larger problem that all the OEMS are currently facing is the demand tha the iPad is putting on the supply lines for tablet parts. Apple's true advantage currently is their economy of scale on these parts. While I have no idea how long it will last, I believe that ANY tablet manufacturer is going to have difficulty producing a competitive tablet at a competitive price. The fact remains that the IPad is the best built tablet on the market for $500. Until a competitor can significantly undercut the price of an iPad (or offer a well built tablet at the same price), windows 8 is going to struggle in the tablet world. I.e, I think it's going to be very difficult to match the retina display in 2012.
I think the larger problem that all the OEMS are currently facing is the demand tha the iPad is putting on the supply lines for tablet parts. Apple's true advantage currently is their economy of scale on these parts. While I have no idea how long it will last, I believe that ANY tablet manufacturer is going to have difficulty producing a competitive tablet at a competitive price. The fact remains that the IPad is the best built tablet on the market for $500. Until a competitor can significantly undercut the price of an iPad (or offer a well built tablet at the same price), windows 8 is going to struggle in the tablet world. I.e, I think it's going to be very difficult to match the retina display in 2012.
1) You presume that the demand for a tablet existed in consumers, and only then did they go looking for one to buy, and lo-and-behold, the only tablet was the iPad. This is incorrect.
2) They didn't have to buy an iPad, they could have bought nothing. Millions of people didn't say "Oh well, there is no other option, this terrible product is the only tablet I can buy, here's $500".
3) Tablets have existed since long before the iPad.
4) Competing tablets have been around since the iPad's introduction too.
Nothing you wrote is true, and it beggars belief that you would honestly think any of it to be true.
No, People bought the iPad, because at this brief moment in time, Almost anything apple make is cool, hip and trendy.
If Apple was cool, hip and trendy when it made the newton, then that product would of had a different history. But Apple did not have the same mass cool/hysteria image is does nowadays.
Plus of course, many, not all, Apple products being priced higher than competing products helps, as it gives some owners a feeling of superiority over others who, perhaps can't afford an Apple device.
I know that part of it is rather sad, but it's true for some.
Mac Snobs
Submitted by ***** ******* on Sun, 2008/06/22 - 16:02.
i can definitely confirm the findings of that study, and so can most computer professionals who have to deal with mac users.
i ran my own computer tech service in las vegas for ten years, and steadfastly refused to service macs, mostly because of apple's proprietary business practices. but i necessarily did have to deal with quite a few mac owners, mainly graphics professionals, and i can testify they definitely live in their own world, which they feel is quite superior to the rest of the computer world.
one reason for this is that apple, from the first, targeted classrooms with their products, from elementary school through college levels, and they became a staple of Academics. so their attitude became that the Mac is the thinking person's computer, hehe.
a standard complaint of businesses for years has been that highschool students in particular graduate with good skills on a Mac, but then have to be totally retrained to operate PC's, which is what businesses use almost exclusively.
i ran a business, and if it had been profitable to service macs, i'd have done it. but Mac parts on the average ran three to four times higher than the same part with a pc interface, and mac owners would typically just say to hell with it.
but their attitude was almost invariably "we're the elite, why can't we get service?" so frankly i didn't mind not having their business.
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So which is it? You said people bought the iPad because it was cool. And you said people bought it because it was the only tablet they could buy. And you said they bought it because it cost more than competing tablets. And you said people buy things because they are familiar. And you said people buy based on the breadth of choice a manufacturer offers. Great posts, keep it up.
I have to say, when you generalize that 60 million people made a decision solely on "cool, hip and trendy" you come off as the snob. Try to give people credit for having a rational evaluative process in their decision to purchase a not inexpensive item.
Why would millions of people buy a T-Shirt which has Nike printed on it, as opposed to a better quality plain T-Shirt?
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Why would millions of people buy a T-Shirt which has Nike printed on it, as opposed to a better quality plain T-Shirt?
Image is everything.. Isn't that the saying?
Anyway, this is being dragged way off topic.
Let's see what happens in the next few years. I'm sure Apple will counter with more varied products if/when they feel they have serious competition.
I happen to have several Nike T-shirts and other clothing from Nike. At first, I bought a Nike T-shirt because I wanted one with my favorite tennis player's logo on it, and it just happened to be made by Nike. I liked the quality of that T-shirt so much that I visited a nearby Nike store, and bought other T-shirts and clothing which weren't related to my favorite tennis player. I bought them because I found that Nike offered good quality clothing at a price I find reasonable, and I don't have to hunt around to find them -- all I need is to walk into their store or visit their website. Sure, there are some better quality T-shirts *somewhere* -- but I don't know where, and I'm not going to spend time hunting for them when I'm perfectly satisfied with the quality I get from Nike.
But all that aside, the analogy with Nike T-shirts doesn't really work with tablets, because who makes better tablets than Apple? Yes, Windows 8 tablets might turn out to be better, but they aren't here yet. Right now, you yourself don't seem to have found a better tablet than the iPad. Come back and tell us that people are buying iPads simply because it is cool when you can point out an actual, shipping tablet that maybe isn't as cool but is better that people should be buying instead.
whyd you buy an Adidas watch instead of a normal one?
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hes obviously assuming everyone is like him, i mean look at his signature. why would someone have all that in there if not to let people know how cool hip and superior they are because they own all this stuff (that no one cares about on a forum if they do)
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I feel as though we are reliving the heady days of promoting the imminent domination of Gingerbread due to the inevitable collapse of Apple coolness; the choice offered by different OEMs for consumers, and the more robust nature of Android over iOS.
I think what he said is that all the people who bought the iPad are mindless, stupid sheep who had absolutely no objective, rational reason to buy it. In other words, he's the lone person in the universe too smart to fall for Apple's evil shenanigans!
And it's highly misquided to compare the reasons for buying a T-shirt with buying a functional device like the iPad. A T-Shirt is neither a productive or entertainment device (nor as expensive, by the way!). Presuming that millions of people would buy such a device simply because it's "cool" is the ultimate in self-serving arrogance.
I put all the stuff in there as it's a joke!
I thought it was so funny that people just had to proudly show of, iMac, Apple Tv, iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc (no imagination) that I filling in my sig with a lot of old funny stuff for a laugh.... lol
Any my Addidas watch is a cheap plastic one, but works really well.....
It's a joke
And as I have said before, I bought an iPad as it was something new, a novelty, seemed the best product at the time, and I knew, whilst amazingly expensive for what it is, in computing terms, I would be able to sell it for a reasonable price as I always look after my equipment very well.
The tablet I buy next, I don't know. I have looked at iPad 3's and the screen looks nice, but, it's just the same device really, nothing I'm really missing out on by keeping my iPad1. It's not like a OMG I need to run this amazing stuff that I can't run on mine moment when I play with the latest model.
I May get an iPad 3, but again, I would like to see what a Windows 8 tablet is like also, as I would enjoy not having the artificial lock downs put in place to make my use of the product deliberately harder.
I will judge each product on it's own merits, and I don't care who makes it.
We're seeing the same thing happen with the iPhone5 chat.
It's going to change from OMG no-one would ever want a 16:9 ratio type of phone, into a Apple is so great, look at the 16:9 screen in a few months time.
The same thing happened with the horrid iPhone 4 design, which turned into the best design ever.
Sorry, but when people bash something as horrid, and then as soon as their favourite company makes it, then decide it's the best thing ever, and you watch this happening time after time, it does make you a but cynical of the way some people carry on.
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I put all the stuff in there as it's a joke!
I thought it was so funny that people just had to proudly show of, iMac, Apple Tv, iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc (no imagination) that I filling in my sig with a lot of old funny stuff for a laugh.... lol
Any my Addidas watch is a cheap plastic one, but works really well.....
It's a joke
And as I have said before, I bought an iPad as it was something new, a novelty, seemed the best product at the time, and I knew, whilst amazingly expensive for what it is, in computing terms, I would be able to sell it for a reasonable price as I always look after my equipment very well.
The tablet I buy next, I don't know. I have looked at iPad 3's and the screen looks nice, but, it's just the same device really, nothing I'm really missing out on by keeping my iPad1. It's not like a OMG I need to run this amazing stuff that I can't run on mine moment when I play with the latest model.
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hahahahah im so glad you are just joking, and there is someone else who hates how people find the need to show off on a forum like that.
a lot of people do buy stuff for that very reason, but just as many people buy them for needs.
Is there such a thing as windows fan boys. Windows tablets (intel) are generally more expensive than an iPad, but if you mean an Arm based one then I agree.
Honestly!
What is so surprising about that opinion? The average person never cared about tablet computers until the iPad was released. And I'm not convinced that Windows 8 offers enough difference from previous Windows tablets to make an impression on the average person, Metro interface not withstanding. The average person probably doesn't even know what Metro is, and when they do find out, they wouldn't care. All they'd want to know is what you can do with a Windows 8 tablet, and how easy it is to do it. And some people think Metro will make things easy for the average user, and others, like me, are skeptical. You may not agree with my opinion, but surely it can't be surprising that there are people who feel this way?
Feel free to cal me silly for wanting such a thing
But I just want a 17" 16:9 Tablet for running games, watching movies and web browsing etc.
My tablets never leave the house and I never use one for more that an hour or two at a time anyway.
I know Apple won't, but hopefully some other company out there is going to build me one
We don't all want the same thing. And that is the point of most things.
But I just want a 17" 16:9 Tablet for running games, watching movies and web browsing etc.
My tablets never leave the house and I never use one for more that an hour or two at a time anyway.
I know Apple won't, but hopefully some other company out there is going to build me one
We don't all want the same thing. And that is the point of most things.