Will Android tablets always play second fiddle to the iPad?

Apple goes where the market leads

Robin Harris

Despite trying to tie the iPad to the iPhone market, it is obvious that the iPad is more like the iPod market. Like the iPod, Apple invented the tablet market, set the bar, and has established a dominating market share.

Many companies came and went in the music player space, which Apple continued to dominate, until the iPhone began obsoleting the iPod. The same will be true for tablets.

The basic arguments for eventual Android dominance are price and - maybe - choice. But Apple is the low-cost producer, and as the iPod shows, they are willing to go where the market leads. If they need to they can build a $250 iPad - and keep their market lead.

Android for the mainstream

Christopher Dawson

I love my new iPad and so do 99% of the 3 million people who bought it in its first weekend on the market. That really is an impressive number, one much like the numbers that Apple posts whenever it releases a new iPhone. Those numbers, though, largely represent the low-hanging fruit of early adopters and Apple faithful. As the tablet becomes a mainstream device that, for many, replaces a home PC, the market will shift in much the same way that the smartphone market has evolved.

Apple certainly isn’t going anywhere, but there’s room for two at this party. Android will continue to appeal to bleeding edge users and developers/hackers requiring more flexibility than iOS offers. More importantly, at the mainstream end of the market, it will deliver ads to fill Google's coffers, low margin/high volume sales for OEMs, and solid value for consumers and businesses.