The Tablet Market:
Apple’s iPad is a tough act to follow
By Anthony Cave
Unfortunately, those Russell Brand commercials for the HP TouchPad, the now defunct personal tablet computer, did not warrant a $400 purchase. Let’s face it—the tablet market is Apple's iPad and everyone else, at least according to The Washington Post and USA Today.
HP TouchPad
Hewlett-Packard discontinued their line of tablets on August 18, which set literal fire-sale as retailers sold their remaining stock of 16 and 32 GB TouchPads for $99 and $149, respectively. Analysts call it HP admitting defeat to Apple, whose iPad 2 product line has sold 9.25 million units to date.
Recently, Google bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, their latest attempt to “Xoom” past Apple in control of the tablet market—the constant battle still raging between Google's Android open source software, which allows developers to create third party applications, and Apple’s App Store offer some commentary on Apple's "strangle-hold."
Some non-iPad competitors have managed to stay afloat, as Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Research in Motion’s Blackberry Playbook have made gains with newer models and updated software.
Products like Motorola’s Xoom tablet and their line-up of Droid mobile phones could bolster Google’s mainstay in the tablet market. Likewise, other non-iPad competitors have managed to stay afloat, as Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Research in Motion’s Blackberry Playbook have made gains with newer models and updated software.
Apple iPad2
While Apple continues to control the market, Amazon – the company that initially introduced the mainstream e-reader in the Kindle – is in the process of developing a Kindle tablet to rival Apple’s iPad. According to The New York Times, the tablet will feature a built-in camera as well as a lower price to entice consumers.
However, the iPad 3 is on the horizon, as production is rumored to begin in October according to Cens.com, a Chinese Economic News site. A complicated tablet market? Indeed. Factor in Steve Jobs’ departure as Chief Executive Officer of Apple and there is a lot to “touch” on.
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