Microsoft, Intel to Cede Tablet Market to Apple?

So, here's the $64,000 question, uh, make that the $64 billion question. Why can't the combined R&D smarts, market clout, and overall technological resources of Microsoft-Intel-HP-Dell come up with a thin, sexy compelling tablet and/or media pad that will turn heads and convince the unbelievers (the average why-would-I-need-something-like-that consumer) that a tablet is a must-have product?

Answer: Because Apple will.

[RememberThe357]

They've been peddling sub-par, poorly made, products at inflated prices for far too long. How can the general public be so blind? You know, the definition of insanity is repeating the same action twice and expecting a different outcome. Everyone who buys an other iPod because the one they have doesn't work anymore is, by that definition, insane.

Apple doesn't make good products, they make cool products. That, in my mind, is really annoying. It's also baffling watching these billion dollar companies fall over themselves trying to figure out how to be as cool as Apple.

Here's my answer to them: Confidence. That is all they need. If they believe in their product they can sell it. The new Zune HD is one of those product MS could push in the faces of consumers and consumers would love. iPods are played out; everyone has one. If these other companies show how different their products are, their products will become cool. Simple confident ads are all you need.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

I wouldn't call Apple product sub-par even though I hate them with a passion, I do recognize their products are excellent.

What I hate is the mentality of their trendy factor. In fact, the people that use them bother me!

[STK026]

I'm not tired of Apple itself, but I am tired of apple fanboys. So, okay, MacOSX is said to be more stable than Windows7, fine, you don't have to tell me every single time we meet.

As for the tablet market, there are some PC offerings, but unlike what Apple will likely offer (a slim, way underpowered, nice looking and overpriced piece of hardware), they offer it in a small notebook-size with a real keyboard (the HP TX2), it can do pretty much anything you'd expect from a small laptop and can turn into a tablet PC when needed. It is, in my opinion, much better than an oversized iTouch running MacOSX. But, that's just me, and I know some would love to have such a product in their hands, and good for them if it happens, I just hope they don't rub it in my face every day.

Well, for one, I never said I thought people who bought Apple's products were idiots, nor did I say that I hated them for doing so, as it is their legitimate right to choose one product over another. What I said was that they didn't have to brag about it every time like they just won the lottery or something.
As for the overpriced underpowered argument, I stand by it. The 15 inch Macbook Pro with a 9600mGT, 2.66GHz dual core CPU and 4GB of RAM, retails for around 2000$. For about the same price, AlienWare, which has the reputation of inflating their prices, will give you the M15X with an i7 CPU and a GTX260M. The rest of the specs are somewhat similar.
Oh, and for the cars, if someone paid the price of a Lexus for a Pontiac, I'd call him stupid. If someone paid the price of a Lexus for a Lexus, it's fine by me, as he's getting a quality product for a premium price, the same does not apply to Apple's computers for the most part. And, seriously, comparing a 200-300$ netbook with a Mac while most Macs start at around 1000$, really?

[wpggamer]

Why do either of you guys care? It's just another product. Vote with your dollars. That said, hating people who buy something you don't like is terrible. I don't like radishes, am i going to hate anyone who buys radishes? No, that's stupid.
But on the price and quality issue, nothing beats an ipod touch. I've had mobile devices using windows ce, and winmo. They just suck in comparison, and if i recall correctly, they were about 3 times the price, like the ipaq and dells axim (650). Plus they were made out of plastic, and had no built in memory, you had to pay hundreds more for storage. And there was no easy way to get apps onto it. Ah, what does it matter. Anti apple boys are just as bad as sony fanboys. So much hate for any competition.
Oh and for overpriced under powered hardware, take a look at the vaio netbook lineup, or hp's new envy. BTW, posting from an acer netbook running win 7. Functional, yes, cheap, relatively, but also, cheap hardware, cheap case, cheap feel. I suppose everybody who buys a lexus, bmw, mercedes, lincoln, Cadillac, infinity, hummer, etc are all idiots, because they are overpriced.

[kaveti6616]

I don't really like Apple, either, but I wouldn't call their products poorly made or sub-par.

The greatest thing about Apple's products are their minimalist designs, which make them sturdier and sleeker.

The only reason I don't like Apple is because they have embraced their elitist consumers who act like having an Apple puts them on another level.

[wpggamer]

"Oh, and for the cars, if someone paid the price of a Lexus for a Pontiac, I'd call him stupid. If someone paid the price of a Lexus for a Lexus, it's fine by me, as he's getting a quality product for a premium price, the same does not apply to Apple's computers for the most part. And, seriously, comparing a 200-300$ netbook with a Mac while most Macs start at around 1000$, really?"
Whoa, I was actually replying to the first post but hey. I'm not comparing a netbook to a MacBook. Just stating that for 380 bucks, I got what I payed for. Does that alienware have an 8 hour battery? Multi-touch trackpad? Aluminum case? Two graphics options for lower power use? Really I don't know. But when you compare a Lexus to a Pontiac gtp and just list off the horsepower and # of cupholders, it's going to sound like the Pontiac is the better deal. The end user experience is more than gigabits and gigahertz. If it was all horsepower, why would hp put out the envy? Compare that one with the mbp.
Also, most of the components in apple products are not cheap, same can't be said for Dell and hp.

[STK026]

Sorry if I gave you the impression that I was offended, as it wasn't the case.

I'd just like to add that Macs do works very well, that, I would never say otherwise. I've used them in the past and I liked it. I actually like most Apple products, as I've grown up with them. My only gripe is not with Macs themselves, but rather the users (not all of them, but a rather vocal minority) who automatically see PCs as inferior to Macs and won't give any attention to any argument saying otherwise. They also tend, from time to times, to develop a superiority complex towards those who do not own a Mac, which can be irritating. Of course, the same could be said about some PC users.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

I guess what I'm trying to say is what kaveti said:

"The only reason I don't like Apple is because they have embraced their elitist consumers who act like having an Apple puts them on another level."

Their elitist consumers are annoying, and I used to give me the most hassle at work because they are spoiled little brats that think that they deserve more than anyone else!

[PLAYSTATIONGENRATION]

They are not very competitive when it comes to price...I will take the problems of a pc vs a Mac because of the price

[thewhoopimen]

I would choose reliability over problems anyday. Take that analogy of yours and apply it to your kia vs. my toyota or your 360 vs my ps3.

[Projekt7tuning]

A large part of a PCs price is due to software. most low end pcs you buy today are full of bloatware, and not full versions of software you will actually use. Now that is something you have to understand from the get go before looking straight to price. For the average user, IE mom and pop, or the young student, Macs come loaded with most of the software they will need to have a full user experience. Software can be up to 80% of a pc price. So with that in perspective the price is not as far apart as it may seem at first. Sure there is an "Apple Tax", But the overall user experience is priced accordingly. I have to use both on a daily basis at home and at work. They have there ups and downs, but one thing I can tell you for sure is that the mac is always up and running. It never seems to go down. So that will most likely jinx me now, but it has been true at least for me for years.

[Xi]

I don't know any other artist that uses something other than an intuos or cintiq.

[krauler]

that's a different kind of tablet

[hades07]

You know why no one cares about tablets anymore...Netbooks. About the same size or slightly bigger and they will do more, what will a tablet do that a smartphone or netbook cant?

[thewhoopimen]

Coming back on topic here, the author is alluding that only Apple seems capable of cracking new markets. To be honest Apple hasn't always been successful with new markets. I can easily recall the Newton PDAs that were 10 year ahead of current PDAs (do they even exist these days?) today and one of the first digital cameras. However, back then... the time simply wasn't right and the mainstream internet didn't even exist. Even so, I was still amazed that I could wirelessly dial-up online with my Newton MessagePad (back in 1992).

Apple isn't just "cool" as some of you keep thinking.... It is their ability to show people how to really simplify what they potentially could be doing and do it in a no-brainer fashion. Alot of Apple's simplification innovations were very much waiting for the internet and wireless communication to become mainstream. Think about how much stuff is available in your hands these days through the internet. You can send all kinds of media, download all types of files/software and utilize them and do so many things with each of these -addons. All this comes at the cost of complication. Think about how difficult it was the first time you learned how to setup a LAN network or VPN. Think about how many steps of complications you ran up into connecting that to the internet and maybe to another server. Then downloading software and installing it, before learning how to even use it [software].

The REAL Magic is Apple's unquestionable capability of putting all those steps into a really easy to use package with very minimal headaches. They are the KING when it comes to homogenous computing environments, GUIs, networking, etc. Look at the iTunes store... every competitor pretty much does it the same way give or take the "look". Buying music from your player is one less step to take from going on a website, clicking download, locating a place to store it, choosing how to unzip it, and then trying to find where your Mp3/aac files are stored, before testing it out for errors. This is why Web sites selling music are dying.

Once people tack on to a very logical and easy-to-use product they STICK TO IT. They don't want to learn new commands or shortcuts because that's just a pain in the ass. Even if the "hardware" on the competitior's machine is "better". Hence why ppl keep sticking to their ipods. Why would I want to migrate my itunes files to a Zune HD, or have to relearn how to use a Zune (My personal opinion: Zune HD is still very much an inferior product when it comes to software integration and device newtorking even if it does have better hardware)

Most people have already decided on how they want to use their computer GUI, and thus you still see the majority of computer users to be Windows users. Well with new markets such as netbooks, smartphones, or tablets there isn't a well-established guideline and whoever does it best and markets it well, keeps the repeat customers.

This may make me sound like some Apple Elitist snob, but judging how heavily competitors copy afterwards (especially with the current iPhone), everyone is waiting on how Apple will introduce the tablet. One thing I think competitor's haven't grasped is consistency or uniformity. An mac user who uses the OS GUI can just as easily dip into an iphone, or iTV, or other Apple products. Why? They all share the same common intuitiveness and consistency across all spectrums. I can expect iMovie to behave like iWorks, iCal, Logic, Garageband, etc.
That is the 'level of ease' you are paying for ... not just the sleek cool looking hardware.

[g-nome]

Apple fanboys.

[hoops]

You are not getting top quality parts inside a MAC for the PREMIUM price you PAY. It's that simple.
MAC's use generic memory chips. Average HDD's. Last generation GPU's. Generic Motherboards. No support for multiple GPU's. I could go on but you get the point.
The price you pay for a MAC or Macpro should reflect in the HARDWARE.
But it does not.