Newsletter Issue #591: How Not to Smother the iPad
March 28th, 2011There’s a story this week from CNN that purports to list the best laid plans by Apple’s competitors to surround and smother the iPad’s momentum. Corporate executives and industry analysts are quoted, and I’ll take the story as accurate, since the latest tablets from these companies confirms the story, and clearly betrays their total ignorance of the reasons behind Apple’s success.
To their questionable way of thinking, the best way to compete with Apple is just to build as many different alternative models as possible, replete with features that Apple doesn’t have. After all, why stick with a 9.7-inch tablet, when you can add models with 7-inch screens, 10.1-inch screens, and any size in between that your chosen flat panel factory can build for you.
If that’s not enough, add models with 3D capability. Maybe include a free set of 3D goggles with your purchase. And if letting your fingers doing the walking across the touchscreen isn’t sufficient for input, why not add that tried and true stylus? If you’re afraid of losing one, just have it connected via a wire, and provide a convenient storage clip on the unit itself. It begins to sound like we’re returning to the era of the original Palm Pilot or Apple Newton here, but this has to be a good idea. After all, Apple hasn’t done it on their iPads.
Of course, there is that niggling question about apps. Apple has 60,000 tailored strictly for the iPad. Android has a tiny fraction of that, but that’s no big deal, right? Developers will soon come on board, and the entire iPad killer ecosystem will soon be in place.
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