Tablet computers have been around for years, but Apple’s iPad has essentially created a new, much broader consumer market for this new class of portable devices. Now having created the market, Apple can expect a raft of competitors. As EnterpriseMobileToday reports, Apple doesn’t have a lock on delivering everything consumers want in a portable device.
A new survey by e-commerce firm Retrevo finds that while Apple has gained some decent traction with the iPad, it doesn’t have the market sewn up just yet. As a result, rivals like Android-based tablets can still make their presence felt under the right conditions.
To be sure, those new vendors have to move fast, if history is any indication: Apple entered the smartphone market with the iPhone just three years ago and is already eating everybody else’s lunch. In a recent Retrevo Pulse study, more than 1,000 people were asked what phone they planned to buy this year, and more than 20 percent of the respondents said an iPhone.
In the tablet market, things are a little more fluid. Apple entered it two months ago with the iPad and in that time has sold about two million units. But as Retrevo found, Apple’s iPad doesn’t own the market just yet.
