IMHO – the iPad 3 has a serious rival in Windows 8
In less than a week Apple will announce the iPad 3 and everything will go a bit silly. Cue three day-long queues outside Apple Stores and desperate bids to be the first to lay hands on the shiny new iPad.
But despite Apple's head start in the tablet game, the iPad 3 will not arrive without competition. Android tablets are evolving new tricks (witness Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 with its S Pen stylus or the quad-core slickness of the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD) and that's before we've even got to the elephant in the tablet-shaped room: Windows 8.
There are plenty of reasons why Windows 8 could bomb. It's the biggest change to the OS since Windows 95. It has no start button. It's made by Microsoft. But those are exactly the reasons why Windows 8 – not Android – is the real threat to the iPad's dominance of the tablet market. Windows 7 tablets were hideous (Archos 9, anyone?) and Microsoft's burnt fingers will have been busy making sure Windows 8's Metro interface is a tablet force to be reckoned with. In fact, our first impressions of Windows 8 suggest exactly that.
But why does this affect Apple? Surely with its shiny new iPad 3 there's no stopping the tech-wizards from Cupertino?
You're forgetting, perhaps, the vast swathes of people who still (irrationally) fear switching away from Microsoft's familiar wares. Even with a total visual overhaul, the mere knowledge that it "runs Windows" will tick the boxes of many a late-adopting tableteer. You may also be forgetting that most people consider the most important spec on a prospective gadget to be the price. There's no question of whether Windows 8 tablets can undercut the iPad 3 on price. It only remains to be seen by how much.
Apple seems to have realised this, which is why they may be releasing budget options along with the main iPad 3. But it may not be enough. Not with some Android tablets promising Windows 8 dual-boot.
And although Apple's app range will always be amazing, Microsoft was smart to encourage app developers to get coding a year before release. When Windows 8 finally hits the shops, the app selection should be relatively sturdy, even if it won't rival Apple's peerless App Store.
Apple will always be able to claim it was first to the tablet table, but the assumption that it will always be the best is foolish, short-sighted and – in all probability – wrong. Windows 8 is coming. The iPad 3 should look afraid. At least a bit.
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Comments
wlau82
1 year ago
Normally I'm very pro-Android, but they have yet to make a dent on the tablet market. Yeah, some models are more functional and powerful than the Ipad but when it comes to usability and swiftness there's no doubt in my mind cupertino's tablet still rules and the IPad 3 WILL be the tablet to be reckoned with and I believe Windows 8 will be the 'be all end all' of tablet operating systems that will perhaps knock the Ipad's dominance at the top of the Tablet table. I'll probably just wait for what Samsung announce as the successor to the Tab 10.6, the Tab 2 10.6 is not the official successor to the original 10.1, Samsung have the silliest PR and advertising team.
I am looking forward to the IPad3 despite not being a huge fan of Apple.
hooman78
1 year ago
the ipad 3 could be epic and looks like it might be. but much like the ipad 2 there are 2 things that have stopped my buying one. 1. i can in no way justify the price for what it does. 2. it doesnt do THAT much for me. most friends that have it or have had it and sold it on just say it's nice. pretty. useful for basic things but then they just end up never using it. other people might be different but what windows may bring is productivity and useful features. i still cant justify the price of tablets over a laptop. i my 5 year old toshiba is calling apart but it works very well and i would probably only buy a laptop to replace it.