This sounds truly interesting!

Thanks for the inside report!

Edited: Dan sorry I misread at first, thanks for the correction!

Apple's iPad is the first of many such devices - I think we're seeing a new category of device being born - the handheld slate computer.

Others have tried this in the past, but it's never really taken off. PDA's were to be this sort of device but they never really were adopted by the masses either - the tiny screen and the smart cell phone has effectively killed off the PDA (personal data assistant).

What's different now is the connectivity, memory space, form factor and battery life. It's a whole new ball game this time.

THIS TIME, a slate device can now connect easily to the global internet, play HD movies and TV programs, act as a GPS, act as a phone by using a headset, act as an eZine and eBook reader - all in a super thin lightweight device with a battery life of 10 hours or more.

I predict Apple will be forced to evolve the iPad into a complete computer instead of simply making an iPhone on steroids.

It's Not being made by Microsoft He had said it is Microsoft compatible and can use the windows 7 programing as well as others and the new system build specifically for the reader that he didn't really give a name to it because he is not allowed to at this time. That's why I call him "He" rather than using his name and getting him fired for letting the cat out of the bag.

Dan

Google's also working on a tablet device that uses their Android operating system. I've heard it's also going to be more of a full-featured computer than a phone on steriods.

In short order, I predict there will be a slew of these devices coming out, and Apple's going to be left in the dust if they don't empower the iPad to have a better ability to read and write data *without* being tethered to a "base computer".

Apple's trying to sell you two devices - an iPad *and* a Mac - but that's gonna backfire in this product genre, is my guess.

Apple always seems to miss the mark in capturing the mass market, IMO.

It's my opinion that it would be a different story if Woz had retained control rather than the evil one. [wink]

The slate computer already sounds like a winner to me!

Joe I read something in Business weekly or Forbes about the Electronic Reader revolution coming in the near future and that there are more than 10 new Electronic readers coming. Some being not more than a few mm thick up to just under an inch thick. The magazine was in the waiting room at my Doctors office so I don't remember which magazine the article was in,  just that there will soon be many electronic readers to choose from.

That means your ahead of the game with MRH and if you can find out who is building what you could offer MRH as a possible model for them to work with. Now that would be a great thing for these E-Books to come with a copy of MRH already loaded on them as a model of what and how these E-Books can be used with MRH and all the click and play apps and as to which E-Book offers the best preloaded Apps.

Promo Dept are you reading this .

Dan

Apple always seems to miss the mark in capturing the mass market, IMO.

???

I know I shouldn't respond to the bait, but you're saying Apple missed the mark in capturing the mass market? 

Ever hear of an iPod?

Apple's iPod has experienced phenomenal growth since its 2001 unveiling. Like the Mac, the iPod largely created a new market rather than displacing an existing one. In 2002, Apple had 33% of the hard drive music player market with 4th quarter sales of 140,000 iPods. A year later, it had 64% of that market selling 304,000. Apple more than doubled its sales, while the rest of the market failed to grow at all.

 

A year later, Apple had 82% of the hard drive market with sales of 2 million in its winter quarter, meaning that all its competitors were selling less than a half million units combined, a minor increase over the previous two years.

 

Apple wasn't eating into other players' sales, it was greatly expanding the entire market for hard drive audio players.

from Market Share Myth, 2007

When I attend the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas every year, the trend has been "how to fight the iPod". Vendors make iPod accessories, and hundreds of booths are dedicated to these products, not other company's mp3 players.

New phones are iPhone like, not the other way around. Other companies are making tablets that when they come out will be competition to the iPad, but agan, Cupertino is driving the market.  I had a Windows tablet 7 years ago, a product that the "other" side let die on the vine somehow, and that product isn't taking off. Great new tablets in the works? Why are they only in development now?  With the tablet experience it had before, they should be ahead of the game, not chasing the competition.

There are tons of examples of the industry chasing Apple, from the inclusion of cameras into laptops, to one-piece desktop models, to the latest version of Windows that offers an increasingly "mac" like interface ("Gadgets" in Vista)

I think it's great that other companies are going to be offering their own solutions; but like the Zune, the expectations and market share may fall short.  Having a "better" product in the pipeline does not guarantee market success (ie Palm Pre). More features doesn't always make a better product, sometimes it's simply more complicated.

I understand fully your hatred for the boys from Cupertino and their products (and opinion that's shared by many) but you can't simply shrug off their market influence, or the fact that the company makes gobs of money.

ok, now back to trains....

True enough, Scarp ...

Apple brought the WYSIWYG mouse and windows interface to the world.

Apple and Macs ushered in the Desktop publishing revolution.

Apple and the iPod revolutionized the music business forever.

Apple and the iPhone still lead the way in smartphones, with everyone else scrambling to catch up.

Apple has now introduced a powerful tablet device, again leading the pack.

However ...

Microsoft took Apple's innovations with the mouse and windows and captured near 90% of the marketshare in this space on the PC.

Quark Express running on the Windows platform has the lions share of the desktop publishing market today.

Apple's iPod and iPhone are the first niche which Apple more or less created that so far has not been captured by other products.

Apple's iPad is certainly leading the pack right now in the new genre of tablet media readers, but I predict they will be quickly trumped by other vendors in this space.

Apple seems to do well when the product space is uniquely niche - but when it comes to general computing, after the initial innovation they tend to flounder and give up most of the market share to other vendors. Mainly, that's because Apple gets it in their head to redefine the space in their own image and the market will have none of it.

As long as Apple can be the tail wagging the dog, like they are with the iPod and the iPhone, they succeed. In the general computing market, this strategy doesn't work and isn't going to work with the iPad. IMO, of course.

And if some vendor manages to sense a market need around new iPod or iPhone functionality and Apple doesn't go along (maintaining their historically arrogant stance that they own the niche), then the market will leave them in the dust just like happened with the windows metaphor and desktop publishing.

Joe, no arguments. 

My post was in response to the suggestion that Apple has missed the mass market, a point that is in my opinion in error., Not that they're the end all.

Their success in this Century has been due (IMHO) to their vision and internal leadership, they have chosen a direction and for the most part stuck to that path.  I think that kind of commitment is a key factor for success, and based on their profits, that seems to be the case.

I'm all for other products and models, and devices. I love new gadgets. I had even seen some new e-ink based e-readers at this year's CES that were impressive enough to warrent wide spread adoption in education, for instance. 

But to me having the device is only part of the package. The one thing that Apple provides is a reliable, fuctional experience (my ipod touch, for instance, has never failed to sync or work over the past two years, and that's despite being dropped a number of times), combined with a successful delivery model for media via the iTunes store; (it went from non-existant to one of the largest music vendors within just a few short years) That track record won't be ignored by the other media (print) outlets, and will draw them in.

In terms of general computing, the scenario you descibe has been the case in years past. I'm not sure how that model will hold up down the road, as we could see a fundamental shift with cloud computing, and more simplified "client"  devices like a hand held tablet.  (something else that's been promised for a while, and yet delivery has been short coming).

So we'll see - but I'd suggest not discounting any player in the market. Except Palm, I think they're dead in the water.

Apple has always appealed to the "Yes, but does it go with my decor?" crowd too.

They market lifestyle where PC makers are stuck marketing computers.

I am not fond of Apple products but I am happy to have them as a player in the market creating competition and providing an alternate vision to Microsoft.

I think tablet computers are great.. we have had them in one form or another for a while. Apples entry into the market will hopefully create space for other vendors to bring in better and cheaper products although they likely will not LOOK as nice. Fortunately, I don't need my tablet to go with my shoes.

Another kudo to Apple.. they made multitasking a feature again..

Chris