The iPad Will Rule The US Tablet Market

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/08/04/did-the-ipad-preemptively-kill-the-us-tablet-market-like-the-kindle-nook-killed-other-ebook-readers/' target='_blank'>http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/08/0...-ebook-readers/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"But did Apple just destroy the US tablet market in the same way? Are manufacturers really going to invest millions upon millions of dollars in R&amp;D and marketing when consumers are buying the iPad by the millions? Is the US tablet market dead?"</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1280952921.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Tablets, even slate tablets, have been around for a very long time, so I do not think that the iPad has preemptively killed the US market in any fashion.&nbsp; I believe that the iPad will certainly dominate for quite some time, as the tablet market was about as stagnant as the phone market was when the iPhone was introduced, but competition for the iPad already exists in the form of netbooks, and I am fairly sure that other major manufacturers will also look into entering the market with their own slates.&nbsp; The iPad certainly has a lead in the market but just as they drew from the resources and lessons learned with the iPhone, other manufacturers already have numerous tools, largely from the phone market, which can be used to compete.&nbsp;</p>

[Chris Gohlke]

I think there is a big market for a non Apple tablet. I'm really looking for something in a 7" size and a lot of the proposed Android tablets seem to bee in that range. I'm hoping we will see some well designed products running Android with a 7" screen at around $300 by the end of the year.

[Jason Dunn]

The article isn't QUITE a dumb as I first thought after reading it, but just because someone has come out with a good product doesn't mean the game is over - iPad sales will slow down, probably sometime soon, because the price point is simply too high for the average Joe to purchase. Right now you have the affluent people buying the iPad, but there's a limited number of them. I view this kind of like the early PDA craze; after about 8 million or so users, the market just kind of petered out...there's not a huge number of people that wanted a PDA. The market has evolved since then of course, but Apple's "one size fits all" approach will not serve them well in the long term. In the short term, yes, they look like they own the market, but give it about a year, and things will change...

[Michael Knutson]

Rule, for a while yet. As an iPad owner, I'm still on the lookout for a tablet that is more of a "business" tablet, meaning that it runs MS Office, not Apple's 60% solution iWork products, and has an equivalent to Windows Explorer/Mac Finder for file system stuff. And, that means, wait for it: Windows. As much as I like the iPad right now, it just doesn't meet my needs as a business user. it does Email, it browses reasonably well, and handles multimedia fairly well (ignoring the whole Flash debate). But. I want to move (and use) business files to a tablet form factor, and not drag around a laptop, even as small as my Lenovo X100e. DocumentsToGo, while okay, just doesn't fill the need.

Android? Close, but no cigar. Still can't run Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word.

So, give me a light, fast, power-efficient Windows tablet, and I'll buy it. And gladly.

If I were a more serious developer, I'd develop CrossOver Mac for the iPad, and put Windows apps on the iOS platform. Or Parallels, or VMWare Fusion, or VirtualBox.

Developers? Any interest here?

[The Yaz]

Actually, the Android tablets are starting to see the light of day. I bought the Augen Gentech78 from Kmart on Friday. It's fun & portable with a 7" screen @800*480.

(Thoughtsmedia renders wonderfully in fullscreen)

The biggest problem is in presentation. The installed system out of the box was broken, with major programs like the marketplace not working.

Until Android as a platform gives a consumer a clean experience out of the box it is not a serious threat to the iPad.

Can MS or HP produce a compelling product that can challenge Apple or Google Nick the market?

Steve

[Chris Gohlke]

The Yaz - Please share some thoughts over at Laptop Thoughts. I really wanted the Augen, but have been unable to get my hands on one. The more recent reviews I've posted have pretty much said it was garbage. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I want to like it!