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Chronicles

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Three iPads later, other tablets still dead on arrival

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Apple unleashed the original iPad two years ago, selling millions and silencing tablet-market naysayers.  As Apple prepares to unveil the third version of its tablet on Wednesday, its rivals are still stuck at the starting line.

CNNMoney.com Julianne Pepitone

Context & Ripple Effects

The tablet field was crowded in 2010, as a survey of 32 tablets and slates illustrated. By 2011, coverage had shifted from cataloguing alternatives to asking why buyers should choose anything other than an iPad and accounting for the missing first wave of rivals.

Apple is approaching its third iPad introduction with millions of original models already sold, while the article characterizes competing tablets as unsuccessful. That makes the launch a test not just of Apple’s next device, but of whether rivals can establish a distinct reason to buy.

First-order effects

  • Apple gains another opportunity to convert its existing iPad lead into sales and attention around a refreshed model.
  • Competing tablet makers face a sharper buyer comparison: their products must be differentiated against an iPad line with two years of market presence.

Second-order effects

  • Retailers and software partners have an incentive to prioritize the iPad ecosystem when rival tablets have not demonstrated comparable demand.
  • Tablet competitors are pushed toward clearer product positioning rather than relying on the category’s novelty to attract buyers.

Third-order effects

  • If successive iPad releases continue to outpace rival traction, tablets may develop around a dominant platform rather than a broad field of interchangeable hardware.
  • The pattern points to consumer-device competition being shaped by buyer expectations and platform momentum as much as by the number of devices offered.

The trend: The tablet market is consolidating around a leading product line, raising the bar for rivals to articulate a distinct buyer proposition.

Related: Apple · iPad · Why Should Somebody Buy This Instead of an iPad? · Whatever Happened to the iPad Rivals of 2010?

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