MacDailyNews Take: Uh oh, time to cue up “Taps” for iPad (snicker).
Nuttall continues, “Small Asian manufacturers such as Eken, G-Link, Bluesky and Kinstone will all be unveiling their iPad-lite models from Monday. Meanwhile, a $75 tablet is expected next year from manufacturers supporting the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative to provide computers for disadvantaged schoolchildren, while consumers in some countries will be able to take advantage of free tablets from telecoms and TV providers in exchange for subscription contracts.”
“Apple’s products carry a premium and supplies of the iPad have been limited but the low-priced rivals are expected to be plentiful and encourage mass adoption,” Nuttall reports. “Unit shipments of tablet devices are predicted to increase by 230 per cent over the next year, according to the In-Stat research firm, while Deloitte forecasts tens of millions of sales worth more than $2bn by the end of 2011.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s amazing these type of ridiculous articles are still being written.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “CYxodus” for the heads up.]
I agree MDN, it is a ridiculous article, true hit whore journalism, so why was it posted?
@MidWest Mac
People seem to have a very short memory regarding Apple’s impact on lowering prices in several key areas (e.g., bundled voice/data plans for smartphones, online music tracks, etc.).
It wasn’t so long ago that people were predicting that the iPad would cost around $1000. Now they are complaining about $499. If anyone can make a decent tablet (good display, responsive UI, good battery life, etc.) for significantly less than Apple’s iPad, then I will be very surprised. They had years to do so without any notable success.
It appears to me that the PC world is headed down the netbook path again. The only difference is that they removed the keyboard this time around.
Where are all the prerelease articles proumcing the new crop of keyboardless netbooks as “no big deal. It’s just a big Android phone”?
“The words you were looking for are “voir la”. It is French, and means “see”.
haha.. you mean Voila? That was funny.
@mike
touché
Ahh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ahh ha ha ha ha.
voilà
I’ll be first in line to buy one of the $75 tablets if they throw in a Yugo to sweeten the deal.
@jaundiced
throw in a Skoda and I’ll join you for the purchase.
I agree with courtjester; it’s just business.
Apple’s competitors don’t have to actually win against Apple, they’ll still make millions!
They don’t even need a good OS, or a fancy UI, it just has to look like an iPad.
If they were actually trying compete, or even outdo Apple, they would have to charge twice as much for their products as Apple does.
Perhaps this isn’t news, but it’s a strong indication of their trust in Apple.
All of you scoffing at Apple’s competitors are so sensitive. It won’t matter if these companies fold their tents in a year, they will have earned twice their investment. That fact is not lost on American businessmen looking to hedge their bets against their own competing products.
The Ballmers and Blankfeins of the world bet against their own products and make obscene amounts of money.
As I said, these companies don’t have to make an iPad, it just has to look like one and people will buy them.
Remember the Zune!
In the words of P.T. Barnum, “I didn’t say ‘there’s a sucker born every minute’, but then, I didn’t see fake iPads for less than $200.
@mike.
“voila” is a contraction, you’ve heard of them? The French do it as much as we do in English.
My correction is technically correct.
“…the low-priced rivals are expected to be plentiful…”
Of that, I have no doubt. Even if none are produced, there will be ample supply for those who want such a device.
Eek:
Here we go again!
Didn’t we hear all this crap when the iPhone was announced?
Yup. We also heard it about the iPod, the iMac, and essentially everything else that Apple has ever produced.
@rwahrens
Fuck the French, Wallha
@radio et al
Actually mike is right.
It isn’t voir la.
It isn’t voila either, but nice try.
It IS Wallha, which is a colloquialism here in Alpha Centauri meaning ‘See! I told you so!’
mike is from A-C too. He says Wallha a little too often..
Have to agree with G4Dualie et al, who understand how business works.
These iPad copiers don’t care if their product ends up in a recycle bin after a week. They’ve already made their money off the suckers who bought it.
Yes, it make me angry that more people will be duped, and yes, the iPad copies will turn many off of tablets in general, but that doesn’t matter in business.
Profits matter.
If I have no ethics and for fifty cents a unit, I produce a plastic replica of an iPad, stuff it with straw, and seal it in plastic with a nice graphic panel, I will sell millions of these things, for 50 dollars a piece, in every Wal-Mart and Discount warehouse across North America.
As a business person, I don’t care that my customers will then be disappointed.
The “brand” on the packaging will be as disposable as the “tablet ‘computer’!” and I will be quite satisfied to bank most of the profits.
The rest of my quick profits will be invested in re-tooling my Shen-Zin factory to pump out cheap replicas of the next hot product, be it Apple’s or someone else’s.
It’s just business.
But yes, I know, we Apple fans want to protect everyone and show them what a pleasure, computing can really be.
But some people just can’t be saved from their own cheapness.
So be it.
“500 DOLLARS?! *snort* And it doesn’t even have a keyboard?!”
You pathetic fanboys make me sick. Steve Jobs says jump you don’t even bother asking how high you just look for the closest bridge. Apple is not the end all be all. I just ditched my iPhone 3G for an Andriod smartphone and I’ll NEVER go back to Apple because I now know how garbage their products are.
But you brainwashed masses just keep pumping money into Steve Jobs coffers. Muppets.