Ten Devices Set to rival the iPad 2

[thewitt]

In order for a library to legally lend an eBook, they must own that copy. They cannot purchase one copy and lend it out simultaneously to multiple people. If they want to lend out 10 copies at once, they must own 10 copies of the eBook.

Amazon will have the same issue. They must purchase and then "set aside" any copies lent or rented out until they are returned.

The good news is they don't come back all dog eared....

-t

 

[singlestick]

In order for a library to legally lend an eBook, they must own that copy. They cannot purchase one copy and lend it out simultaneously to multiple people. If they want to lend out 10 copies at once, they must own 10 copies of the eBook.

Amazon will have the same issue. They must purchase and then "set aside" any copies lent or rented out until they are returned.

The good news is they don't come back all dog eared....

-t

The problem is that publishers fear that ebooks in libraries may hurt ebook sales. And so, there are some publishers that do not make ebooks available to libraries. And HarperCollins and other publishers essentially only license ebooks to libraries. This means that a library can only lend any particular ebook a maximum of 26 times. Assuming a 2 week lending term, this means a book can only be lent out for a one year period.

Also, libraries make a few bucks selling used books. They cannot sell "used" ebooks.

 

[Sandiman]

iv had an android tablet and i now have ipad2,give me the reliability and ease of use of my iPad any day,not to mention its sexy looks,i was a person who never saw myself with an apple product too.

I have also had an android tablet and an android phone, I was happy with both and I'm still not sure what made me change over to the iPad2 and iPhone 4. However the fact remains that I did and I am very happy that I did.

I miss not having USB ports on the iPad 2 and flash player on both Pad & Phone, but all and there are many, points where the Apple products are superior make the competition a poor second,

 

[Sandiman]

Oh and I forgot to mention in my previous post that I use Kindle on my Pad and it works fine.

 

[KevinJS]

Funny thing is that Apple is one of the only companies to survive in the computer industry rivalling the main player; Microsoft/IBM. In general, only one format succeeds while the rest go to the wall. In the far-off days of 8-bit computers, Atari and Commodore fought it out, driving the other players into oblivion, and there were a huge amount of them. In the UK, a similar battle was fought out between Commodore and Sinclair. Ultimately, Commodore won out, until the introduction of the Amiga, which attempted to rival the Apple Mac and the PCjr. It failed, and was, I think, part of the reason for the downfall of CBM.

Now that Apple has a range of products that are clearly the market leaders, there seems to be a drive amongst the commentators to find the David that is going to topple Goliath. With the benefit of hindsight, I'd say it's simply not going to happen. I was just in Staples and took a look at most of the rivals, and they don't come close. E-ink is novel, and I can see it would be easier on the eyes, but I'm just as happy reading on the iPad. Only the Samsung looks like a worthwhile consideration. Not sure whether I would dare invest my hard-earned cash into a device that may not survive, however.

One of the major problems in computing is the ever-changing hardware requirements of Windows, making perfectly good hardware obsolete overnight. Reading this forum and others, I'm stunned to see the amount of clamour for the iPhone 5, the iPad 3, etc. What WILL satisfy people? iOS 5 appears to upgrade the capabilities of the hardware, without turning our present equipment into doorstops. Surely that is an Apple innovation that should be applauded, rather than decried as laziness on Apple's part? The lack of a worthwhile competitor does not seem to be stopping Apple. Did they NEED to introduce the iPad 2, when sales of the original were strong? Do they NEED to constantly upgrade the OS? Do they NEED to offer a vast array of free media in the Apple store? Do they NEED to give away free an iPhone copy of nearly every app you buy for your iPad? It seems to me that they are very, very far away from resting on their laurels.

Anyway, just my 2 cents worth!

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[medicbill]

I got my iPad for Fathers Day and really love it. I looked at many different tablets but my son who is a graphic designer insisted that I purchase
Only an Apple product. I'm so glad that I did. The iPad is a wonderful tablet and with thousands of apps to choose from it can't be beat.
Bill Morgan

 

[Padholdr]

Right now apple does the best job with producing a great "out of the box" tablet. The competitors are shipping tablets that still have way to many bugs that need to be fixed. Apple has so many followers that when beta testing is done, it's done on a mass scale and that helps them tremendously when it comes top actually shipping a working product.

 

[KevinJS]

Right now apple does the best job with producing a great "out of the box" tablet. The competitors are shipping tablets that still have way to many bugs that need to be fixed. Apple has so many followers that when beta testing is done, it's done on a mass scale and that helps them tremendously when it comes top actually shipping a working product.

That's a good point. I heard a "complaint" a few days ago that Apple products are difficult and expensive to upgrade, because all of their components are proprietary.

I might have agreed once, when I was happy to rip a computer apart to jam the latest goodies into the case, but these days, I'm looking for a device that works "out of the box", whether it be a computer, tablet or smartphone. I don't buy a Chevrolet because I might one day decide to stuff a Cadillac engine in it.

I don't really care what goes on under the hood. I buy consumer electronics now based upon my present needs, rather than my hypothetical future intentions. Apple products seem to stand up far better to time than those of the competition.

It's a fair bet that the user base alone will squash the poorer performers in the tablet war. A year from now, I'd suggest that only Apple and Samsung will be left to slug it out, possibly with a dedicated eBook reader hanging on in there somewhere. Whatever Windows 8 may or may not be, Microsoft has a lamentable track record in mobile computing, and, let's be honest, a less than perfect track record in providing a decent desktop OS. ME and Vista would have been enough to have submerged any company that did not enjoy a near monopoly. In the tablet market, Microsoft will have to join at the bottom of the heap, where they belong, and I can't see their name being trusted when there is real competition, from a company that beta tests ad nauseum, and doesn't deliver a product until the product is fit for sale.

Just thought of this. I wonder what would happen to the tablet market, should Apple decide to licence iOs to other manufacturers. I know it's as likely as Flash on an iPhone, but it would be interesting.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[thewitt]

There is no chance of Apple licensing iOS to other companies.

Apple is a hardware company that creates great operating systems for their hardware. It's a known, limited, captive and controlled platform.

Windows is such a dog in a large part because it attempts to operate in an uncontrolled hardware environment.

-t

 

[thewitt]

I don't really care what goes on under the hood. I buy consumer electronics now based upon my present needs, rather than my hypothetical future intentions. Apple products seem to stand up far better to time than those of the competition.

I've held this position since Apple created the Lisa, and have been a customer ever since. As a computer engineer, it was always more interesting to me to use a computer rather than spend all my time fiddling with it ...

-t

 

[KevinJS]

I've held this position since Apple created the Lisa, and have been a customer ever since. As a computer engineer, it was always more interesting to me to use a computer rather than spend all my time fiddling with it ...

-t

I wonder how much money I would have saved over the years if I'd gone with the Lisa? Oh, the beauty of 20/20 hindsight. At the time, 8000 British Pounds seemed too expensive for my limited budget for a computer, even with the huge (256kB) memory size, the zappy 68000 16-bit Motorola processor etc. In those days Apple was just another silly name. Hell, you could even buy a Tangerine, or was it a water-melon, I forget, with possibly the earliest incarnation of speech recognition built in.

Computers have come of age. I was a geek when it was very uncool to be a geek. These days, I'm a consumer, albeit a consumer with a good memory for those early days. We won't see their like again.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[jsh1120]

Some observations/predictions...

() Amazon will produce a "tablet" with a 6-7" screen for sale by November for about $250. They'll sell them by the boatload. Yes, the sales will cut into traditional Kindle sales to some extent, just as the iPad has sent iPod Touch sales into the toilet (down 20% since a year ago.) But with a Kindle at less than $100, they'll balance those losses with new customers who want an e-Reader only.

() Amazon isn't after customers who buy computers. In fact, Apple isn't after those folks, either. At least not with the iPad. The iPad's phenomenal success comes from expanding the market to those who don't need/want computers. Amazon's sales will come from many of those same folks, especially if the cost of entry is half that of the iPad.

() Microsoft, on the other hand, is aiming at people who use Windows. And among computer users, they still outnumber Apple customers by about 9 to 1. If they succeed in providing a more or less common user experience for tablets and laptops with Windows 8 (and given the challenges and their track record that's admittedly an unanswered question), they'll be in a very strong position to "bridge the gap" between computers and tablets. It's not as if what constitutes a "tablet" is carved in stone. Just a e-Readers will grow up into tablets, laptops will continue to "shrink" into smaller form factors and add "tablet-like" features.

() I'm frankly not sure where the Android tablets are going to go. Apple made a very shrewd decision NOT to tack on the traditional Apple "tax" on the iPad, making it difficult for other manufacturers to compete on price. It may be that the sheer number of different Android tablets will enable customers to select a tablet that most appeals to him/her and in aggregate to challenge the overall dominance of the iPad. And when the growth curve of the tablet market slows down, along with Amazon sales, the Android tablet software market will grow, just as it has with smartphones.

() All in all, iPad dominance of the tablet market will decline both as a result of other products and a changing definition of what constitutes a "tablet." But a 40% share of 80 million sales is just as profitable as an 80% share of 40 million sales.

 

[Pinkpoison]

My opinion for what it's worth is that apple won't be trembling in their boots,there's nothing out there that can compete with iPad,I had an android tablet for six days and it got progressively worse each day,people on the android forum had exactly the same problems as me,I am now a very happy ipad2 user,no problems,I will be sticking with iPad now,wouldn't have anything else.

 

[singlestick]

My opinion for what it's worth is that apple won't be trembling in their boots,there's nothing out there that can compete with iPad,I had an android tablet for six days and it got progressively worse each day,people on the android forum had exactly the same problems as me,I am now a very happy ipad2 user,no problems,I will be sticking with iPad now,wouldn't have anything else.

Here is where Apple should be a little concerned, if not trembling. Amazon is seeking to expand the market, going after people who are not necessarily looking for a computer or laptop equivalent or substitute. They may also be going after people who don't have a smartphone.

But Apple made it marginally more difficult for people with iPads to buy ebooks through Kindle. And if you can buy books, music, and videos with the new Kindle, and if you can check email and surf the Web, why would you need a tablet from anyone else?

This is a bigger challenge, not threat to android and Windows, but Apple should be paying attention as well.

Of course, this all depends on Amazon's ability to actually deliver something.

 

[thewitt]

Though Apple needs to pay attention, they are shipping 200,000 units a day. A Day. It's a pretty solid market position with huge momentum.

If Amazon sells 1m new tablets in the quarter I would consider that a huge success.
That's 5 days production on the iPad...

RIM only sold 500,000 Playbooks in a year, and HP had to dump their tablet at a huge loss after only selling 20,000....

Amazon will have a hard time making hay here unless they really decide to lose money to try to get market share. Another $500 entry level book-reader tablet is not going to appeal to any large market segment - newly defined or otherwise.

-t