trickblue
Not Old School...Old Testament...
- Messages
- 31,439
- Reaction score
- 3,961
Has Apple met its match? Amazon to take on the iPad with Android-based tablet due out this year
By Graham Smith
The iPad may have invented the tablet computer market, but its days as the unchallenged king of its field could soon be numbered.
That's if Amazon's forthcoming tablet is as successful as analysts are predicting it could be.
The internet retailer may sell as many as five million tablet computers in the fourth quarter of this year alone, according to Forrester Research.
It remains unconfirmed when Amazon will release its tablet and what it will be called, although it is thought the Kindle brand name of its popular e-reader will be retained.
Selling millions of tablets in the run-up to Christmas would make Amazon the top competitor to Apple in the fastest-growing niche of the consumer computer market.
Amazon has to price its tablet 'significantly' below competing products and have enough supply to meet demand, said Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps.
If the company can pull that off, then it can 'easily' sell three to five million units in the final three months of 2011, she said.
Apple has sold almost 30million iPads since launching its tablet in April 2010.
Rival products from companies including Samsung, Research In Motion and Motorola Mobility have failed to seriously challenge that early lead. This month, Hewlett-Packard scrapped its TouchPad after sales languished.
Ms Epps said: 'Thus far, Apple has faced many would-be competitors, but none have gained significant market share.
'Not only does Amazon have the potential to gain share quickly but its willingness to sell hardware at a loss, as it did with the Kindle, makes Amazon a nasty competitor.'
'Its willingness to sell hardware at a loss, as it did with the Kindle, makes Amazon a nasty competitor'
One problem for iPad rivals to succumb is Apple's claims that it has about 100,000 custom-built iPad apps.
Google's Honeycomb platform, which is the tablet version of the Android operating system, has attracted fewer than 300 apps, according to Forrester Research.
More
By Graham Smith
The iPad may have invented the tablet computer market, but its days as the unchallenged king of its field could soon be numbered.
That's if Amazon's forthcoming tablet is as successful as analysts are predicting it could be.
The internet retailer may sell as many as five million tablet computers in the fourth quarter of this year alone, according to Forrester Research.
It remains unconfirmed when Amazon will release its tablet and what it will be called, although it is thought the Kindle brand name of its popular e-reader will be retained.
Selling millions of tablets in the run-up to Christmas would make Amazon the top competitor to Apple in the fastest-growing niche of the consumer computer market.
Amazon has to price its tablet 'significantly' below competing products and have enough supply to meet demand, said Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps.
If the company can pull that off, then it can 'easily' sell three to five million units in the final three months of 2011, she said.
Apple has sold almost 30million iPads since launching its tablet in April 2010.
Rival products from companies including Samsung, Research In Motion and Motorola Mobility have failed to seriously challenge that early lead. This month, Hewlett-Packard scrapped its TouchPad after sales languished.
Ms Epps said: 'Thus far, Apple has faced many would-be competitors, but none have gained significant market share.
'Not only does Amazon have the potential to gain share quickly but its willingness to sell hardware at a loss, as it did with the Kindle, makes Amazon a nasty competitor.'
'Its willingness to sell hardware at a loss, as it did with the Kindle, makes Amazon a nasty competitor'
One problem for iPad rivals to succumb is Apple's claims that it has about 100,000 custom-built iPad apps.
Google's Honeycomb platform, which is the tablet version of the Android operating system, has attracted fewer than 300 apps, according to Forrester Research.
More
