There’s only one tablet. And its called iPad.
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| Forget Android: Theres only one tab – the iPad. |
That’s what vast swathes of consumers believe, according to a major US retailer.
“For the vast majority, the idea of a tablet is really captured by the idea of an iPad,” Josh Davis, a Manager at Abt Electronics in Chicago told AP.
“They gave birth to the whole category and brought it to life.”
The iPad, unveiled in 2010, has now been ‘generized’ like Google has been for search engines and Xerox for copying machines.
And it looks like the retailer could be right.
Apple’s iPad has been treated as the tablet benchmark in the same way as the iPhone is synonymous with the smartphone. Having spoken to a number of consumers of late, many appear to believe there is no other tablet other than the ‘iPad’ and use it to describe the PC genre.
And a straw poll conducted among several others today also revealed most consumers are dumbstruck when asked to name another tablet bar the eponymous iPad.
“Isn’t iPad the only tablet?” one said.
iPad 2 and iPad 3 are still outselling Droid rivals like the Acer Iconia Tab, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, 8.9, and Asus Prime Transformer by miles – even when Apple hadn’t released a new model in just under a year.
Apple sold a record new high of 15.43m iPads during first fiscal quarter 2012 (Oct- Dec 31) despite not releasing any new models since early 2011.
In Australia, iPads account for 84% of the tab market, with Android accounting for just 15% – far higher than even the cult Apple’s global share which stood at 58% (a drop of 10% y-o-y) while Droids account for almost 40%, according to Apple Insider.
And the “new iPad” (aka iPad 3) sold 3 million on its first three days on sale this year – that’s one million per day – not bad for some fairly moderate adjustments (4G, Retina Screen, faster A5 chip).
And despite the recent backlash against the iPad in Australia over the lack of connectivity to 4G network and it being advertised otherwise, consumers have yet to return even one iPad to Apple store or other retailers, report The Australian.
Last week, the consumer watchdog, ACCC, ruled iPad 4G owners could return the device for a full refund, branding Apple’s recent promotion of the new “iPad with WiFi + 4G” as “misleading.”
“Apple’s iOS is expected to maintain its dominance in both markets and retain its growth momentum.” analysts IDC recently predicted for the Australia and New Zealand markets.
IDC expects the Oz media tablet market to expand 50% in 2012, meaning tablets are on the road to dizzy new heights, while Apple looks set to announce its latest earnings later on this month, and we’re expecting even greater stratospheric heights for iPad sales (and plenty jealousy from Samsung, Acer & Co).
