@Geuseppi
And those facts left out spiral directly out of the fact that accomplishing the feat of finding the right methods to market there products like Apple has is beyond a difficult feat. If one really looks with a critical eye at the situation one could easily conclude that its an impossible task, at least currently. And the fact also exists that its such a difficult task that the longer Apple remains a huge player in the commercial sale computers and gadgets the harder and harder it will become for them to retain what is almost a magical ability to sell snow to the Eskimos.
Apple gained a reputation among the general population of creating the best of the best of high tech gadgets once the iPod took off. The iPhone solidified that, not just being a great product, I own one so I know, but the iPhone brought touch tech to the masses and it was seen as ground breaking, the public seen it as far more "magical" then it even actually was. Make absolutely no mistake that Apple was then in one of the most unique positions of any company in history. They had gained the reputation of a company who was bringing high quality almost magical futuristic products to the market, and no other company in the market place was close to that kind of rep.
Apples position in the market was so high and solid it provided them with a very very unique opportunity no other company could hope to accomplish, or therefore have a reason to risk trying. That opportunity was to be able to promote a new product as being of a "groundbreaking" nature based almost entirely on Apples say so. The product could be relatively expensive and didn't actually have to be even as "magical" as the iPhone was, Apple was now in a position where if they said the product was magical they would be believed. And that is a unique position indeed.
This of course was the iPad. And interestingly enough the only relatively unique thing about the iPad was its form factor. And of course that was just striking enough to give credence to Apples claims that the iPad was the next big thing, it was a new looking thing and Apple made high quality innovative gadgets so the promotion was credible. And it worked. Big time.
The problem for other companies in the IT business is that most of their products don't even lend themselves to the kind of self aggrandizement that the iPod and iPhone were able to generate. And we have seen in the starkest of recent examples that when it comes to tablets that the reason the iPad is outselling all other tablets is not because its worth way more value then the competition, its largely because the iPad is a product nobody needs but they want it, they specifically want the iPad, Apples new "groundbreaking magical" product. For the most part thinking about competitors products for Mr. Average just makes him/her wince because they don't actually need a tablet but they want an iPad. If anything, thinking about the competition is only more likely to wake them up to the fact of how little they need a tablet at all.
Apple made a couple brilliant moves. First was noticing how the public was moving in a very trending way toward listening to mp3's on mobile players and leaving CD's behind. The huge leap forward in portability was a groundbreaking advantage and Apple was smart enough to see just how huge a leap forward this was. They came up with a fantastic comprehensive plan which involved iTunes to supply the music and then to build a piece of high quality hardware to mate up with that. A very smart "one two" punch that anticipated the great significance of an early trend.
The iPhone came about following the same pattern. Apple took very strong notice of the prevalence of smart phones creeping right throughout western society. They probably first of all recognized the potential of high end large capacity smart phones from other manufacturers stealing away everything they built up with the iPod. After all, a smartphone with large storage could play mp3's as well as any iPod. They were already doing touch so it was time to make one slight slide to the left and out came the iPhone. Great marketplace perception and a great result for Apple as a result.
But the iPad is different. It was something new, it wasn't following up on the early notice of a new trend like the iPod and iPhone were.
I don't care what anyone says, if you look on paper exactly what an iPad is and is not and how much it cost, on paper it looks like a white elephant that cant sell at the price. And as many manufacturers have found out, thats largely true. Unless your Apple.
So ya, other manufacturers haven't been able to find a way to market like Apple does but in all fairness thats because Apple can market, promote and sell their products as Apple products, magical, and unless your Apple thats not an option.
So while its true that Apple, as you said, makes people feel the need to own their products, thats a very rarefied status that even Apple is going to have some difficulty hanging onto indefinitely the longer and longer that more and more of their products are in the publics hands because even the public eventually comes to notice when there really isn't any true magic in the trick. Even if they are good products, right now its the magic thats doing the selling.
HP has bounced all over the map with its handling of the HP TouchPad, from dissatisfaction at the launch to cancellation of the product in just a few weeks. Most recently it announced that it was making a limited production run to get the TouchPad in the hands of the thousands who ordered one at fire-sale pricing, but didn’t get one due to limited inventory. This run could be significant if information coming out of HP’s partners is accurate.
