In less than 60 days, Apple has sold over 2 million iPads. This despite just being available internationally this past week, and despite being a device that many in March were saying really didn’t meet a need. This despite the cheapest model being US$499 (more on that below). Yes, despite all that – and helped by tremendous/deserved hype and a multi-million dollar ad campaign – the iPad now dominates a market that it created less than two months ago.
Coincidentally (or maybe not so much) two manufacturers that made their marks with low-cost, but decent quality netbooks – Asus and MSI – both announced tablet computers at the Taiwan Computex show today. The Asus Eee Pad (ePad?) runs Windows 7 and the MSI Windpad runs Android and both have more ports and, well, they have cameras so they will certainly get a look by those that are shopping for a tablet computer – yes, they’ll get a look, and then shoppers will walk to the next aisle at Best Buy and throw down for an iPad.
Two months into the “iPad era” or whatever you want to call it, we shouldn’t have to go into all the reasons that the iPad will continue to dominate the market once these and other usurpers hit the shelves. It is built better. I has a better screen. It has apps. Oh, and that $499 entry price tag? That price point was to us Steve Job’s piece de resistance with the iPad: the Eee Pad will probably sell from $399-$499 – even the most strapped student understands that $100 more to move up to an Apple product is a no-brainer.
Simple math makes the iPad already a US$1 billion success. Image what the numbers are going to look like on December 26.
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A revolution? Maybe. Another dominant product from the world’s largest tech company? Yes.
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