In Forrester Research has come up with a new report saying that Amazons Tablet PC could become the top most competitor of Apples iPad. As Amazon has already priced its Tablet PC significantly below what other brands are charging, a serious disruption in the market can be expected.
The report says, With 28.7 million iPads sold worldwide to date, Apples lead in the tablet market looks invincible. Enter Amazon, whose tablet can compete on price, content, and commerce. If its launched at the right price with enough supply, we see Amazons tablet easily selling 3 million to 5 million units in Q4 alone, disrupting not only Apples product strategy but other tablet manufacturers as well. Apple will maintain a strong lead in market share, but Amazon will gain ground quickly and give product strategists from media, software, retail, banking, and other firms a reason to kick app development for Android tablets into high gear.
Forrester researcher, Sarah Rotman Epps, said, Thus far, Apple has faced many would-be competitors, but none have gained significant market share. Not only does Amazon have the potential to gain share quickly but its willingness to sell hardware at a loss, as it did with the Kindle, makes Amazon a nasty competitor.
Since launch in April 2010, Apple has sold almost 30 million iPads. The products from rivals like Samsung, RIM and Motorola Mobility have failed to mount a serious challenge to Apple early lead. This month, Hewlett-Packard scrapped its TouchPad after sales languished. One problem that iPads competitors have faced has to do with the paucity of apps. According to Apple, the iPad has access to 100,000 custom-built apps, while Googles Honeycomb platform, which is a version of Android OS, has fewer than 300 apps.
Sarah Rotman Epps says, If Amazons Android-based tablet sells in the millions, Android will suddenly appear much more attractive to developers who have taken a wait-and-see approach. However, Epps also advises against playing up the fact that the Tablet uses Honeycomb, as the OS has proved to be prone to bugginess and is also mired by a weak user experience.
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