“The BlackBerry maker had hoped to offer a Google Android-powered tablet later this year, but has now backed off the plan, says Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar, who has been monitoring the supplier and manufacturing partners,” Moritz reports. “The so-called BlackPad RIM tablet is being pushed out to early next year, he says.”
Moritz reports, “The move marks the third time in two weeks that a would-be tablet maker has shelved product preparations aimed at challenging the Apple iPad. Last week, Hewlett-Packard(HPQ) pulled the plug on its Slate tablet and Microsoft(MSFT) reportedly withdrew plans for the Courier device.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bloodbath.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “JES42,” “Jersey_Trader,” and “Robert S.” for the heads up.]
Bloody Blood Bath (BBB)
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‘took my iPad to a party last night; every person there evinced a desire to buy one.
An amazing experience.
I bought my 3G 32GB Friday. I will never need to purchase a laptop. I will continue to have desktop computers at home. This device will make the laptop/notebook a niche product.
The desktop computer will again be center stage of the home.
WOW! It has an app for evapor..–Ohhhhhhhh…you mean they’re scrapping the project.
Man you gotta love Apple. They really know what people want–even before people know what they want.
I can’t wait for:
iRepublican
iReligion (Code Name iAtheist)
and the killer app of killer apps…
iEARTH
The (not so) hidden message behind all of these delays? “We didn’t realize how poorly designed our plans were until we got a chance to see the iPad. Now that we have the iPad in hand, we’re going back to the drawing board so that we can do our best to copy everything about it (like we did with the iPhone) before putting out our sure-to-be-inferior versions a few years from now (just in time to be outdone again by the iPad 2.0).”
RIM was going to make a tablet using Android rather than their own OS? That says a lot.
@Dotar Sojat
Speaking of iPad 2.0 – how long do we have to wait to find out what Steve held back so we will all rush over and buy a few more of these since the ones we first bought are now in the same category as these non-Apple tablets that have been declared to be so lousy.
They’ve all been padding their expectations.
By this time next year the current iPad may be the younger, featureless brother to a range of devices making any future competition look anaemic.
What do they have to rethink? Haven’t all of these companies claimed to have been working on their tablets for years? Besides they have the latest version of Windoze. All the iPad has is a “phone” operating system, no contest!
How stupid are these companies? The iPad is obviously more than just a big iPod touch, but in terms of figuring out what they had to compete with it’s a good enough description. They must have known it would essentially be a more powerful iPod touch but with a bigger screen, a similar OS with tweaks specific to the device. As a minimum they new where they had to get to. Instead all these companies seems to have ignored the iPhone OS entirely and been hoping to cobble together something that is essentially the same as everything else that had previously failed.
@paul
agree! my plans were for a macBook Pro with the big monitor , now I’m getting a 27″ iMac and iPads
I don’t see how RIM delaying their expected product launch until next year means it’s been discontinued. Granted, that could just be a prelude to it outright getting canned, but it could also mean snags in design, R&D;, the supply chain, etc.
Two things, first, why is BB using Android? Second, what is making these companies rethink their plans? Yes, we know that HP and Microsort using W7 is a non-starter as the battery life will suck, but why is BB not using Android? it’s a mobile OS.
I agree – Dotar Sojat – excellent point.
Why Apple let other copy the iPhone so closely… perhaps the iPad has always been the tool Apple had been working towards.
We now see Apple strengthening it’s position to protect it’s devices and market – mostly since the introduction of the iPad, and specifically the updates in iPhoneOS4 is for :
– denying developers to deploy to Android – games and apps,
– filtering out the need for Flash in HTML5 – Steve’s letter is clear
– taking a stand against Ogg Thora – an alternative video format
This market has been home grown from the belly’s of dedicated Apple people who saw a dream and materialized it. And the eco-system, the digital hub it was once described as, has evolved extremely well and these recent moves product the devices and the system.
Furthermore, these moves — differentiate Apple devices from is copy-cat competitors. Protecting the efficiency, the security, the functionality and it’s future. Rather then suing the copy-cats but stopping them from further progress.
They have taken far too much already… but Apple knows how to handle Apple’s future. Steve Jobs is not a one man shop – he listens to the customers and his team at Apple.
@ Paul
I agree with you. I was luckily able to pick up a 64 gb G3 iPad Saturday (for the same price as a 32 gb) and feel exactly the same as you. The iPad will replace the need for notebook computers for most people. People will instead buy ipads and desktop computers to supplement their computer needs. People will walk around all day with their ipads then come back to home base aka desktop computer – sync up.
Building a tablet is nothing like stuffing a bunch of components into a box as cheaply as possible.
Apple worked on what eventually became the iPad for, some say, almost 10 years? If you add in some of the Newton’s DNA (we KNOW it’s in there somewhere), we’re talking nearly 20 years.
To top that off, none of these wannabe tablet makers can hope to compete against Apple’s huge amount of buying power clout for components and manufacturing. With iPhones, iPods, Macs and now the iPad, none of these companies will be able to match it.
What I find amazing w/ my iPad is its battery life — I literally can go for days before having to recharge — and I hope that’s what’s causing these delays and shelvings by everyone else — how to get power mgmt right (I recharge my iPhone every other night, and my MacBook Pro every night.)
Even if they get close to that, they still won’t have the App Store. If it runs Windows, it’ll have apps, but only for a few hours between charges. If it runs Android, there might some apps, but their screen resolutions are all over the board already; iPhone developers only have two resolutions to design for.
And being PC people, they’ll insist on USB ports, a camera, Flash support, etc., all of which work against power mgmt and simplicity. And the multitude of hardware configurations will only complicate software development, shopping and maintenance (just like on non-iPhone app stores right now).
“Speaking of iPad 2.0 – how long do we have to wait to find out what Steve held back so we will all rush over and buy a few more of these since the ones we first bought are now in the same category as these non-Apple tablets that have been declared to be so lousy.”
@Great News
You don’t follow Apple’s history much do you? I mean even recent history like the past 3 years. It’s obvious, because if you did, you’d know that even after iPad 2.0, and iPad 3.0 is out, iPad 1.0 will STILL be far superior than every other competitor out there, just as the original iPhone is still a far better product than the latest Android, Blackberry and WinMo 7 phones.
Just because Apple releases a new and improved model, doesn’t suddenly make the old model crap. So buy the first one and when the new one comes out, sell the old one and pick up the new one for maybe an extra $200-300. Seems like a pretty small price to pay for all the enjoyment you’ll get in the meantime rather than having to wait for a newer and better model, because if you take that mentality, you’ll ALWAYS be waiting. A new model is always just a year away.
NEWSFLASH: you don’t HAVE to upgrade every time Apple releases an updated model.
For those you unfamiliar with Scott Moritz’s laser like analysis of the iPad. I enclose these two gems from the past. The internet has a long memory.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10669382/behold-the-apple-iflop.html
Dale
I’t has been very interesting to se how apple introduced the iPod and Boom!!!, everyone tried do copy but never really catch up. Then the iPhone and boommm the same… Now the iPad and once all competition is focused on the iPad, there will be a new device which will shift again all the attention (maybe the no-hobie apple TV ) while apple keeps capitalizing and growing market share.
I’m currently sitting in a demo of an electronic medical record and this guy said that “Blackberrys and Windows tablets are the future of healthcare which is why we are focusing on those two devices.”
I almost choked on my coffee trying not to laugh.
And in fall, we will get a brand new OS that will give us all the “next” iPad. My guess is we will see a similar once a year hardware refresh as the iPhone since they share so much in common.
Snappy Bloodbath !
Can you call it a bloodbath when there are no bodies? More like preemptive product genocide. To the point of others here, there will be products that purport to be competyitive. If Apple truly defines/redefines the vertical–as I think they have–then others will follow; that part is inevitable.
What seems to me more important is that Apple is not replicating some of its prior mistakes with the computer platform. Granted, comparing the music player, phone, and tablet markets with the computer market is at best an abstract exercise, but Apple’s definition of markets amnd its protection of its turf within those markets is substantially more effective this time (all these times) around, and as a consumer and shareholder, I am very pleased with that.
I love my 64gb 3G iPad, and use it hours daily. It has nearly replaced my MBP 15.