iPad's 'Design Efficiencies' Make It Tough For Other Tablets to Compete

The iPad competitors are way behind the iPad and they know this which is why the trump features that are really superfluous to what consumers need.

i.e the Playbook bragging about Flash technology. Wow...how cutting edge

Or the other tablet makers waxing on about USB ports, HDMI ports and other portage. Wow ..so it's a Netbook missing a keyboard.

If you're a company that thinks you're going to be Apple with a reference design hardware running run of the mill ARM chips and the same Android OS that your competitors offer then talking about USB or HDMI ports and how many megagigapixel your camera offers is about all you can do.

Just like the Mac since forever.

1) First to market. (Well first one to convince people they actually need a tablet)
2) Price competitive with competition.

The two reasons the iPad and iPhone are so wildly successful while Macs are falling flat on their faces. Mostly the second.

Macs are falling flat on their faces?
The installed base is growing, year after year; where have you been?

The down-side to Apple's tight "design efficiencies" is that it leaves little flexibility "wiggle-room" for iOS developers to innovate. :rolleyes:

And Apple is VERY MUCH aware of this. It's VERY MUCH intentional.
It's the main reason they are so iron-fisted with the apps they allow in their walled-garden.
It's also why they don't allow non-apple compiled code to be submitted to the app store, or apps that execute non-native code (eg Java & Flash).

You're absolutely right, it's completely intentional. The main reason for such tight control is that Apple understands the idiosyncrasies of the average consumer.

The average consumer doesn't care about code, tech specs or anything else that goes on under the hood of the device. They just want it to work--all the time. If an app is written poorly, or in a format that doesn't play well with the OS or the hardware, the consumer doesn't blame the app developer, they blame the device. If an app causes major battery drain, they don't delete it and move on with life, they assume that Apple is just lying about battery life and may choose a different device the next time.

If the ecosystem is so clogged with varying code languages and unpredictably performing apps that it becomes overly complex to use, consumers don't blame themselves for not understanding how it all works. They blame the device and assume it is broken.

The endless accusation that Apple only does things the way it does to ensure that consumers have to buy from them is getting tired. To date, Apple has paid out just over $2 Billion to iOS developers. That means Apple has made just under $1 Billion in App Store revenue. (they keep 30%) When you factor in the cost of labor to keep it all running, the cost of hardware, maintenance, real estate to house it all etc...That $1 Billion is pretty much wiped out. It would certainly be easier for them to just let an open source App Store open up and walk away from it.

But that doesn't happen, because if it did, the end user experience would be crap and iOS devices wouldn't have the reputation for quality that they currently enjoy.

Vertical business model. When it's done right, it is unbeatable. Apple does it right.

Thread title is too limited. It should read:

Apple's control over their products gives it "design efficiencies" competitors can't match.

Apple hardware + Apple software. Let's call a spade a spade and give credit to the totality of their platform.

But, monopolies are bad for the consumer!

I am sure you are a very bright individual, but your understanding of a monopoly is incomplete. :o

If you are thinking there is a monopoly because only Apple can manufacture the iPad, that is no different from only Motorola being able to manufacture the Xoom. If you are thinking they have a monopoly because only Apple can authorize applications to run on iOS, that is no different than only Sony being able to authorize applications to run on PlayStation, or MS certifying an App is Windows ME compatible.

This is not a monopoly situation and the consumer has at least a dozen manufacturers of tablets, and no less than three operating systems to choose from.

Apple currently enjoys no monopolies, right down to having Steve Jobs, as he serves on the boards of other corporations and organization simultaneously. ;)

Yep. It's very difficult for non-vertically integrated manufacturers of tablets to advertise the advantages of buying their specific tablet, because all the tablets are running Android, so from their point of view, the only thing they have to differentiate their product is specs, something that the average Joe is not going to care about, nor understand. Apple can advertise the entire experience to differentiate itself.

Edit: Keep an eye on WebOS/HP though. They may be Apple's one true competitor in the tablet market.

Every one else having Android doesn't mean they can't market their tablet better. The iPad commercials show how it can be used, work in your life, your families life, etc. Samsung could just as easily make a commercial doing the same thing, or any other tablet maker. This was the Xooms nail in the coffin. They had a clever launch ad campaign, but.... well, you never saw the Xoom do anything in the commercial except make stick people.

WebOS had the most potential... but this botched launch is a critical blow to HP. (Palm already screwed it up once with bad hardware, and HP does it again with bad hardware and unforgivable bugs and performance issues that got them spanked in every review around the world). No one is buying their tablet, several carries are rumored to have turned down the Pre-3, their echo system isn't seeing developers flock to it (actually some are leaving it), and most people don't care. Their only hope is to get a better device in the marketplace in the next 6 months, and to pray that integrated WedOS in HP pc's stirs more interest, because outside of tech nerds like us, crickets are all that can be heard in the world in regards to WebOS.

The down-side to Apple's tight "design efficiencies" is that it leaves little flexibility "wiggle-room" for iOS developers to innovate. :rolleyes:

And Apple is VERY MUCH aware of this. It's VERY MUCH intentional.
It's the main reason they are so iron-fisted with the apps they allow in their walled-garden.
It's also why they don't allow non-apple compiled code to be submitted to the app store, or apps that execute non-native code (eg Java & Flash).

I'm sure that every skilled iOS developer would disagree with you. Language constraints are merely another of Apple's efficiencies. But with any language, all room for innovation rests with the developer's creativity.

this is there argument (maybe not an argument but its a big point) for every apple product, oh and don't forget they look good too!

Just like the Mac since forever.

Not quite. This was the key sentence from the article "Apple designs the software (iOS), the hardware (A4 and A5 chips), controls the sales channel (Apple Retail and Online Stores), and decides the fate of how buyers use the iPad via the App Store."

The macs use the sandy bridge chipset with intel CPUs, seagate hard drives,..etc. On the inside, it's not much different from a Dell.

Also, you can install and buy software for the mac outside of the App Store.

So it's definitely not like the mac. It's a lot more integrated and controlled, and maybe that's adding to why nobody can compete with it.