Will the iPad be the iPod of tablets in terms of sweeping the market. This question has taken me again and again to different stores, from BestBuy to Verizon to online and I have to admit that the momentum of iPad and iPad2 can be paralleled with a wrecking ball demolishing the existing eco systems. But the good thing is its catalyst effect for not only reviving failing industries and spawning new ones through extended use cases, but also a rekindling (no pun intended) of its own breed. The device that can provide platform to a vast number of services truly deserves praise.
But the question remains are we looking at the formation of a 80/20 market. If we use the current market/consumer data and base a forecast on it, we are sure to find a YES at the end of five years. But in a nascent market can we take the risk of betting on the leader after a first few laps when seemingly many furlongs are still to go. Well, if the other horses are barely huffing and puffing out of the gates, the audience is sure to bet on the leader. The verdict for consumer market is almost out when it comes to the tablet market, unless some of the other players are able to divert a fraction of the app/device/eco system driven consumer and developer momentum towards them. One way to do it will be to flood the market with cheaper and some what equivalent devices, give developers free ride to tools and app stores, and put get university programs going for their platforms. This involves considerable risk and only few companies in the world have the channels to scale, management and resources to even think about such an undertaking.
Each time I have visited the above stores for checking the tablet pulse, I felt the other tablets as orphans compared to iPad and its sibling. There is usually a crowd around the "pads" while the rest of the constellation felt sort of by itself, 0r shall we say in its own space (with me). On the other hand the PC notebooks seem to be doing fine and tons of people still buying them, why? The win/tel combo is cheap with the necessary applications. Yes..the forecasts for notebooks and PCs is also in the "recession" phase, but overall the market is big so it will continue on, the future of netbooks, I am not so sure. The mediocre capability priced to sell works well in PCs case, but in terms of tablets, right now we have the best(debatable..but) priced to sell, with all the applications, and support. This will be hard to beat unless you have a channel, to sell a really niche application, on a cheaper device.
The good thing about technology is that it is a moving target, the bad thing you can't sell it without a crafted use case. Monetization is the only game worth playing in the business technology realm and it needs more than one piece of equipment when it comes to enterprise space. That's where we might find a bit more competition to the mass inertia; in the nooks and crannies of specific applications where generalizations are not as effective - small but creative changes to a device can have considerable impact on productivity.
But the question remains are we looking at the formation of a 80/20 market. If we use the current market/consumer data and base a forecast on it, we are sure to find a YES at the end of five years. But in a nascent market can we take the risk of betting on the leader after a first few laps when seemingly many furlongs are still to go. Well, if the other horses are barely huffing and puffing out of the gates, the audience is sure to bet on the leader. The verdict for consumer market is almost out when it comes to the tablet market, unless some of the other players are able to divert a fraction of the app/device/eco system driven consumer and developer momentum towards them. One way to do it will be to flood the market with cheaper and some what equivalent devices, give developers free ride to tools and app stores, and put get university programs going for their platforms. This involves considerable risk and only few companies in the world have the channels to scale, management and resources to even think about such an undertaking.
Each time I have visited the above stores for checking the tablet pulse, I felt the other tablets as orphans compared to iPad and its sibling. There is usually a crowd around the "pads" while the rest of the constellation felt sort of by itself, 0r shall we say in its own space (with me). On the other hand the PC notebooks seem to be doing fine and tons of people still buying them, why? The win/tel combo is cheap with the necessary applications. Yes..the forecasts for notebooks and PCs is also in the "recession" phase, but overall the market is big so it will continue on, the future of netbooks, I am not so sure. The mediocre capability priced to sell works well in PCs case, but in terms of tablets, right now we have the best(debatable..but) priced to sell, with all the applications, and support. This will be hard to beat unless you have a channel, to sell a really niche application, on a cheaper device.
The good thing about technology is that it is a moving target, the bad thing you can't sell it without a crafted use case. Monetization is the only game worth playing in the business technology realm and it needs more than one piece of equipment when it comes to enterprise space. That's where we might find a bit more competition to the mass inertia; in the nooks and crannies of specific applications where generalizations are not as effective - small but creative changes to a device can have considerable impact on productivity.
