APPLE IPAD

Apple iPad

Apple iPad

Part: 1 Article

The tablet market has existed for many years in the form of ruggedized devices from manufacturers like Mobile Demand and General Dynamics, and convertible laptop PCs, the modern consumer tablet market (or slate PC market) has only recently begun to surface. With Apple's innovative iPad serving as the industry's first modern tablet in mid-2010, this market is extremely nascent, with many large players in the electronics industry announcing their own devices. These devices are all typically of similar hardware specifications, following the latest trends for netbooks and other small form factor devices.

Thus, Intel Atom processors, or ARM-based systems on a chip (SOCs), comprise the bulk of these devices, while Web cams, 3G functionality, Wi-Fi, and other more sophisticated features are increasingly common. Apple has seen tremendous success in the consumer market and is likely to see some limited success in the professional and enterprise markets. Although less than a year old, the iPad has already begun to bleed into other markets and serve as competition for companies like Motion Computing (a key player in the medical tablet market). Similar to the iPhone, the iPad may also begin to see success in the enterprise, particularly if the next revision of their hardware includes a single or dual webcams for video conferencing.

As competition intensifies, it is likely that Apple will see market share erosion; however, there is little doubt they will continue to lead the way in the consumer segment. With nearly 15 million iPads shipped in 2010, Apple has established an early foothold in the increasingly competitive tablet market. However, moving beyond the consumer market will be challenging for Apple, particularly with Research in Motion's newly announced BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in the enterprise market.

The gaming community is great and the Apple iPad is likely to grow further. This is shown by a survey done by Interpret, which shows that 8 million of the 11.4 million U.S. users of iPad use the device mainly for play. This is a very wide community both in absolute terms and as percentage of total users of iPad. The search for an interpretation seems almost a response to statements by Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, published yesterday. "It is probably the correct decision in the sense that if we had started to publish games on smartphones we realized profits. However, I believe that my primary responsibility is to pursue gains in the short term, but to prepare a competitive strategy for Nintendo in the long run "Iwata said, reiterating that Nintendo is currently committed to developing video games to mobile devices such as iPad.

iPad is attracting not just gamers, but also a new type of user that previously was not inclined to spend time on videogame products. People who use iPad to play are progressively more mature, if the last market analysis, Interpret, in fact, 40% of those who played on the iPad has between 35 and 65 years, in the previous survey, this percentage was only 31% ...