“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)
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
‘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.
@Great News
All technology companies releases new hardware on a regular schedule. The reasons for this are obvious, surely even to you.
bloodbath… Blandroid or RIMroid flavor developers will have to wait until next year.
wonder if HP / Palm will gain traction, maybe they’ll bring back the TouchPaq… and what of the Intel Nokia… moblin…
when moritz writes something stupid about apple everyone hates him, yet when he writes something equally stupid about RIM, it’s as good as gold.
seriously, how can a barely rumored device, that no one has any idea about, that the company never mentioned be called vaporware?
What a site this mdn is – i’m even embarrassed for mdn and i’m a huge apple fan.
Come on!! There can’t be an iPad killer if everyone chickens out.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
@double standard
“seriously, how can a barely rumored device, that no one has any idea about, that the company never mentioned be called vaporware? “
Maybe because of things like this written yesterday?
http://www.crn.com/mobile/224700713
Any threats to iPad dominance were expected to come from Windows-bearing tablet devices – the logic was that a full-fledged operating system that was already compatible with >90% of enterprise software would integrate seamlessly with the desktop, database, and enterprise solutions already present in the industry. And that’s where tablet research was headed until the iPad. Now all those also-rans are scrambling because their tablet solutions were going to follow the netbook spiral (full OS but too weak, too little battery power, too many ports/widgets to be worth anything) or they were going the Android, up-crafted phone OS route, and it was going to be too weak, too little battery power, too few applications, too little compatibility.
Apple has knocked them all back on their heels. The tech isn’t there yet to accomplish what it will take to dethrone the iPad, and none of the competitors realized until now that it would be a new market, not an expansion of an old one.
They’ll have to make it better… or, at least, as good. Gosh! It aint gonna be easy!
Besides of Apple’s, droping another tablet into the market is a damn risky entreprise in these days!!!!! 😀
Adobe continues to believe the way to your customer’s heart is by first ignoring them and then trying to make it’s own stupidity a legal issue. I think Adobe could use some changes at the top.
This is simply getting to be comical at this point.
Looks live the gommint will finally have a monopoly to look into: the iPad one.
The iPad is the iPad killer killer.
It’s now killed off three would be iPad killers.
You see. It’s “magical.” It makes the potential competition disappear, before they even exist.
Seriously, these vapor- “projects” are being canceled because their sponsors do not want to release a product that will be embarrassing sitting next to an iPad. There have been two for Windows 7 and now one for Android. It’s back to the drawing board; maybe in about two years, there will be a worthy competitor for the iPad Apple has out there TODAY.
100% market share for iPad….
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />
I just got my iPad 3G last night for a birthday present. My <strike>girlfriend</strike> soulmate loves me…she really loves me!!!
I don’t think people realize how much went into making the iPad. Apple was years ahead of everyone else in terms of iTunes, apps and everything else.
It’s damn easy to order the components and slap something together (minus the A4), but putting together the whole ecosystem is really beyond the capability of most others.
Also, a lot of other companies can’t drive the market and be patient with the results. The iPad is going to have a slow start…yes, a SLOW start. I know 1 million in less than a month seems like a large number, but that means in the US, only 1 out of every 300 people you know has one…actually worse than that as many were taken over seas. You really need to get your hands on one to appreciate the iPad. Even taking it home and using the apps provides a much different experience than the in-store demo. Apple is in a position to leverage the iPod/iPhone ecosystem to the iPad and thus not only sell way more as a result but make a profit until the big numbers start coming in.
The scary part is that Apple can then leverage the iPod/iPhone/iPad ecosystem for the real Apple TV initiative which will take over all kinds of things in the living room, from DVD/Blu-Ray to game consoles and TiVos.
@ macslut
> only 1 out of every 300 people you know has one
ONLY? I think you are one of those people in a metro or suburb area, who seems to believe that everyone in the U.S. has broadband Internet and a recent personal computer.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> I think there are still more than 25% in the U.S. that do not own a computer of any type, let alone one that is recent enough to run the current iTunes and have broadband Internet.
So 1 in 300 people in the U.S. owning a device with an average selling price that is over $600 after 28 days on the market is a monumental accomplishment.
My point exactly. That article has nothing but rumors and innuendo. No facts. Using that standard, any product ever thought about at any company is vaporware. That’s an absurd notion. Of course this is mdn, so no use applying reason to the situation.
haha, they thought it was gonna be 1000 bucks.. now they can’t compete