The iPad Is Unbeatable: Why Apple’s tablet competitors don’t stand a chance—and maybe never will

Slate ^ | March 8, 2012 | Farhad Manjoo

[PIF]

Not mentioned so far is that AAPL owns the supply chain. Competitors need to have access to the same parts in the same quanities, but they cannot buy what is already sold to AAPL.

Catalogue makers want high-res displays for their products - only the new iPad offers resoultions equalling high end print, medical professionals have already snapped up quanities of iPad 2s but the new iPad will make their 10K desktop an antique. Would you rather a doctor looks at your x-rays on an android, ansus or on some crappy 4bit tablet display?

A million more pixels than an HD TV is saying something.

Then there is the USAF buying 18,000 of them.

One must keep in mind all those vaunted competitors are up against the largest compay in history.

And that compay makes its own hardware while the competitors buy off-the-shelf componets - meaning it just a question of who connects which part to another in which order - they are all the same thing, with only the OS and other software to distinguish them freom each other.

I think the competitors were so busy making cheap stuff that when the iPad showed up, they were fast asleep and only now are trying to rose themselves only to find they have been Left Behind :)

[Jonty30]

Apple will still be a very capable company without Steve Jobs. It’s just a reality that without him, Apple just won’t have the same street cred.

That’s the problem Android has had. Android is a very capable operating system, but there’s nobody who could speak for it like Steve Jobs was able to speak for the Iphone and Ipad.

[antiRepublicrat]

You’ll see. When windows 8 and windows phones are up to full speed there will be nothing to stand in Microsoft’s way.

That's what they were saying about Windows Phone 7, flop.

[antiRepublicrat]

Sure, the iPhone 4S was a disappointment compared screen-wise to the Galaxy Nexus, but Apple will catch up and blow by them on the next iteration.

You mean the Nexus that has a screen far too big to be usable as a phone? Apple is doing the right thing by not following the current trend of bigger and bigger screens on "phones." By the mid 90s cell phones could easily fit in pockets. Why are these manufacturers going backwards?

[redgolum]

Funny, I have seen the opposite. More companies moving away from the Ipad to some other device (more often a net book or small lap top). But I am in engineering, so that is a different market.

[Jonty30]

For myself at least, 4 inches is about how big a phone should be.

If it gets bigger, it’s not has holdable. If it’s smaller, even if you have incredible resolution, details can be lost when watching a video or looking at a picture.

I think 4 inches is the sweet spot for phones. I think 10 inches is the sweet spot for tablets, though I can appreciate some body with artistic aspirations like the new 13 inch tablets that are available.

[D-fendr]

Google:   Google bans Microsoft Windows

:)

[Jonty30]

I’ve seen charts that show that Windows has out sold Android, if you take into account that the new Windows phone has only been out for a short time.

I’m not saying that Windows will become a big factor or anything, but it can only be considered a flop, if you thought that Android was also a flop in its beginning.

[I-ambush]

The “Zune” of the tablet world?

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Main selling points:

1) It’s heavier now.
2) “Made in China”.

I sure want to spend a lot of money on one.

/s

[GlockThe Vote]

I have an iPad and love this freaking thing. It’s worth triple what it costs.

[antiRepublicrat]

For myself at least, 4 inches is about how big a phone should be.

My wife has a 4" phone, and that's pushing it. I really liked the new RAZR, but the screen size is what killed any possibility of me buying it. BTW, the iPhone has more pixels than the RAZR at 4.3".

[antiRepublicrat]

but it can only be considered a flop, if you thought that Android was also a flop in its beginning.

Both were. All anyone was saying about both was basically "Don't worry, the next version will be worth buying." Even Google says Android pretty much sucked until version 4.

[MV=PY]

Yes! The Apple Lisa will cream Windows 3.2, and Apple will take over the consumer PC market! They will own WYSIWYG!

Oh, wait... did I skip a few years...? ;)

[Jonty30]

The Samsung galaxy III is supposed to be better than 1080p.

At 1080, most can’t see individual pixelation.

so if you’re into Android, that’s probably the phone a person wants.

[for-q-clinton]

Read the reviews from the industry and you’ll see they love it and think it’s the one thing that can beat iPad.

If we went by the blog community then Ron Paul would be winning the primary.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

LOL...right. Any day now MS is going to dominate the phone landscape. You'll be old and gray before that ever happens. Remember all these smash hits?

1. PocketPC 2000
2. Windows CE
3. Pocket PC 2002
4. Windows Mobile 2003
5. Windows Mobile 2003 SE
6. Windows Mobile 5
7. Windows Mobile 6
8. Windows Mobile 6.1
9. Windows Mobile 6.5

And that doesn't even include all the Windows Mobile Professional, Windows Mobile Standard and Windows Mobile Classic flavors which all bombed.

Their cumulative sales probably don't even equal a single year's sales of iPhone.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “For myself at least, 4 inches is about how big a phone should be.” <<

.
I use my phone for talking on, not looking at pictures. I don’t even know where I’d hide that 4” brick, my shirt pocket is only 3 1/4” wide. My flip phone is 1.9” wide, and 4.3” long, and has real keys so I can punch in the rght number the first time, every time.

[mamelukesabre]

Here’s why you have no clue...

Nokia windows phones are making a big hit in the world’s largest smart phone market. CHINA. iphone is toast.

[editor-surveyor]

I seriously doubt that I’ll ever own an Apple anything.