Apple is reporting that they have sold over 1 million iPad’s. That is great even for Steve Jobs. Reporting it is like pouring blood in to ocean which attracts competitors (market then becomes shark water). Strong rumors are spreading at big buzzsites as Wired.com, Techcrunch.com and Gizmodo.com about an upcoming iPad killer. Competitors act like sharks, they have good senses for business and are soon entering the market. One competitor’s solution looks like this concept illustration from Google/Chromium.org:
Personally I don’t think it is enough to create a better copy of the iPad and call it a killer, but it can be the solution for many consumers who think the iPad is not flexible and not a good solution. The question is now how fast Steve Jobs can swim before the sharks/competitors catch up with their advantage?
Apple created a template that other’s need to follow for a tablet device: Great battery life, ease of use, mobile data, media etc. The trick will be to provide what’s in the template and offer a viable alternative by contrasting the ‘walled garden’ approach to the illusion of freedom (mobile operators will not allow full fledged freedom on a mobile internet sim card). Unfortunately I haven’t seen anyone do close to as good of a job as apple with data entry via a screen. Google hasn’t proven that it can choose the right hardware partner or business model (the online-only nexus one launch was horrid) so it’s all speculative at this point.
Thanks Dee. I agree, Apple is fare ahead from the rest in many fields, and with the iPad – they set the standard high in the tablet device category. Think Google need to find talent and partners fast to catch up if they like to move in to the hard ward field (with I don’t think they have any choice in moving into).