King of the Market

A number of tablets were released in 2011, and they spread faster than a viral infection does in Pakistan’s slum areas. Steve Jobs was ‘forced’ to call it the “year of the copycats,” which gives us just a slight indication of how many tablets must have come out within the first quarter of 2011. Furthermore, the year 2010 had brought the first generation iPad right into our hands. With such a record, tablets and the entire concept of mobile technology has become just that much bigger, interesting and exciting.

To start with, and I will again paraphrase Jobs in his launching ceremony of the second generation iPad, ‘none of the tablets that have come out yet, are even close to the first generation iPad.’ While I won’t completely back up that claim, I will admit that for most of the ordinary users, who incidentally, make up the market that every technology maker is actually trying to target, none of the tablets come close to Apple’s tablet. The iPad has a class and a look about it that sets it apart in a class of its own. But objectively speaking, while they may not beat it this year, there is no reason why a number of the Android tablets in the  market will not, eventually, manage the tech-stunt of the century: beat Apple at its iPad market.

The reasons are plenty. For starters, most of the tablet makers have been using Google’s operating system, the Android OS. This in itself gives them, or will eventually give them an edge over Apple’s operating system, the iOS. Apple tends towards a more ‘close-system approach as far as its applications is concerned, while Google has a more ‘open-ended’ approach. Eventually the Android application, when it gets enough applications for the Android system, might just prove more tempting to the average consumers.

Other than that, the edge that Apple currently has over two of its greatest rivals, the Motorola Xoom and the expected Nokia-Microsoft tablet is thus: The iPad2 has a new, allegedly better processor, an A5chip, better memory storage, amazing graphics, and a market reputation that is hard to beat. It also has, to complement it, a very large app store, an excellent design, and comparatively lower rates. However, and here’s the crux, Xoom also has 1GB of memory space, graphics that have impressed critics, and performance that could spell some trouble for Apple. Need I say more about Nokia? The hardware is excellent, and with the Windows OS they will prove competition also. In the long run, it waits to be seen, who will be the king of the Tablet Market.

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