Apple’s iPad line of tablets are the only media slates to have met and exceeded consumer expectations according to one analyst. IDC’s senior Canadian digital media analyst Krista Napier believes competitive offerings from the likes of Samsung, Motorola and RIM simply haven’t been able to impress the masses, which is why the iPad continues to dominate the market. “Apple remains the only company to have lived up to the hype so far,” Napier told Financial Post. “Apple appears to be doing many of the right things both on the consumer side and increasingly on the commercial side.” Companies like Samsung have seen some initial success with tablets, though we haven’t heard much about tablet sales since Samsung announced that it had shipped more than 3 million units earlier this year. Read on for more.
On RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the analyst attributes lackluster sales to RIM’s confusing marketing efforts, among other things. RIM had called the PlayBook an enterprise tablet but it has been marketed with a very different message. In the meantime, Apple’s iPad continues to gain ground with businesses and consumers alike. “RIM with the PlayBook, they were very vocal when they came out with it that they were very much putting their marketing dollars towards the consumer market,” Napier said. “All their commercials show pictures of video games and movies, you didn’t see a CEO in an office in any of them.” Napier believes the current crop of iPad competitors won’t make much of a dent in the market, and will instead continue to fight for scraps while the iPad sees record sales.
