iPad to Have a Very Happy Holiday Period

[Maura]

MacRumors has a report today on updated sales estimates from research firm Gartner, which is predicting a bumper holiday season for the iPad, saying that Apple’s tablet will essentially have a “free runâ€, due to the lack of any truly viable competition. And in the longer term, Gartner says that it expects Apple to maintain a majority slice of the tablet market right through until 2014, 50%, in fact, although it does expect Apple to have a bit more competition by then, from the likes of Microsoft’s Windows 8 tablet and RIMs QNX platforms. Overall though, Gartner’s research vice president Carolina Milanesi is singing the praises of Apple and the iPad, as well as giving some advice to Apple's competitors:

“Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services,†she said. “Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal.â€

Source: iPad Set for 'Free Run' Through Holiday Tablet Shopping Season - Mac Rumors

 

[SweetPoison]

No truer words were ever spoken.



"Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal.”

 

[Maura]

No truer words were ever spoken.



"Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal.â€

Lol, love the picture!

 

[info]

It sure does seem like pretty much of "a free run." Apple is running towards the goal posts with no defenders in sight.

 

[KevinJS]

I hope Microsoft are not getting their hopes up. They are going to be in the same position in the tablet market as Linux is in the PC market. Windows 8 will have to be one hell of an OS to even stand a chance, and both Apple and Google have plenty of time to improve their offerings in the interim if it does appear that Windows will be taken seriously.

MS has enjoyed a monopoly position in their field, and has behaved as badly as any seller could. At times, atrocious operating systems, deliberately outdating expensive hardware for no good reason, extremely expensive, starving out competition. The list goes on.

The buying public will probably think long and hard before trusting MS to get involved.

That said, competition has to be a good thing, if it drives standards up and prices down. I look forward to seeing new devices hit the market, but I don't think my new-found enthusiasm for Apple will be tarnished any time soon.

Now where did I put my checkbook. The iMac sure is tempting, and I have to go into the Apple Store anyway...

 

[richsadams]

I hope Microsoft are not getting their hopes up. <snip>

I find it interesting how future Microsoft products are always slated to beat current Apple products time and time again.

 

[KevinJS]

I find it interesting how future Microsoft products are always slated to beat current Apple products time and time again.

Laziness in the reporters covering the computer industry would be my guess. Its easy to back a winner, even if "winner" in this case simply means the one who is currently in the lead.

With iOs 5, tablets will be free of PCs, and will then truly become a market in their own right. Once the break is made with traditional MS territory, I find it difficult to believe that they could compete, starting from the ground up, and although Apple might never become the industry standard in the PC market, who knows? they might find enough converts to put a big dent in Redmond pride.

 

[richsadams]

Laziness in the reporters covering the computer industry would be my guess. Its easy to back a winner, even if "winner" in this case simply means the one who is currently in the lead.

With iOs 5, tablets will be free of PCs, and will then truly become a market in their own right. Once the break is made with traditional MS territory, I find it difficult to believe that they could compete, starting from the ground up, and although Apple might never become the industry standard in the PC market, who knows? they might find enough converts to put a big dent in Redmond pride.

True enough, but my point was that it seems that there's always an MS product "in the works" that will one day beat what Apple has already created and marketed today...as if Apple will be standing still in the meantime.

 

[singlestick]

I find it interesting how future Microsoft products are always slated to beat current Apple products time and time again.

Reporters don't pay attention to their own reporting. Part of Apple's "unified approach" is to announce products that are actually available for purchase. Win 8 tablets may be available sometime in 2012.

Promises are not products. And for now, I am more interested to see what Amazon may release next week than I am about what Microsoft might release months from now.

 

[KevinJS]

...as if Apple will be standing still in the meantime.

And there you have it. The iDevices are on a roll. Talk of iPad killers, whether Steve Jobs' retirement might send Apple down the tubes and so on might be fun subjects for people who are paid to speculate rather than create, but as Margaret Thatcher once said, you can't buck the marketplace.

 

[richsadams]

And there you have it. The iDevices are on a roll. Talk of iPad killers, whether Steve Jobs' retirement might send Apple down the tubes and so on might be fun subjects for people who are paid to speculate rather than create, but as Margaret Thatcher once said, you can't buck the marketplace.

Agreed, and as long as the "other Steve" (Ballmer) is in charge I don't see things changing for the competition...IMHO of course.

 

[mikaelrocks1231]

cool

 

[Pharlap]

Apple will sit on the ipad 2 platform till the latest moment now and let the others advertise there latest and greatest pieces of rubbish and then pull out a major trump in the tablet market .
I love my shares which i bought in the downturn at 98 bucks each
Hope you all invest

 

[KevinJS]

Apple will sit on the ipad 2 platform till the latest moment now

I suspect you are right. The smartphone market has different drivers. As consumers reach the end of a contract they expect improved models as they update their phones. I am satisfied with my iPhone 4, but when it's renewal time, I'll almost certainly go with the latest model.

The tablet market is maybe influenced in part by smartphones. I, for one, could not see the point in having any other tablet than an iPad, since it complements my iPhone 4 perfectly, but there seems little point in dumping good hardware simply to get more or less the same thing.

The more iPad 2s that Apple sell, the more they make from apps, and the easier it is for developers to write software for a stable platform.

Perhaps once the tablet market has reached saturation point, there will be good reason to improve models and introduce new ones in order to take advantage of the replacement market, but iPads 2s are still selling at a massive rate, so we are clearly nowhere near saturation yet.

With their strong presence in all 4 markets; smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop, Apple have possibly the strongest base of all the competing companies, which should inspire confidence in consumers, and keep the momentum going for iDevices. Having taken a bite of the Apple, it's difficult not to enjoy the taste and want more.

 

[richsadams]

Having taken a bite of the Apple, it's difficult not to enjoy the taste and want more.

Ha! Good one!