iPad monopoly?

As discussed earlier in the other thread, the question is what is going on with the competition for the iPad. Yesterday, HP announced that they were getting out of the tablet business due to miserable sales of the TouchPad. This followed the report that over 90% of the TouchPads shipped to Best Buy were on warehouse shelves.

Now updated news reports that HP managed to mount webOS onto a iPad2, and despite a processor that was higher rated than the A5, webOS ran twice as fast on the iPad2 vs the TouchPad. Today the New York Times reports that 94.5% of all potential tablet buyers are interested in iPads, The #2 interest of buyers was the HP TouchPad at only 10%. The Galaxie and Xoom were at on 8%, the rest less than 5%. So the main competitor of interest has folded up its tent and left.

With the way things are unfolding, what are the chances of other manufacturers breaking into the market in a meaningful way? The only real mobile OS left is Android, unless Amazon buys webOS for its upcoming tablet. Android suffers from the same issues as the TouchPad, the hardware is not up to the software, and there is a huge gap in the number of apps. IMHO, Amazon is going to be the only chance at a game changer. Whichever OS they adopt, they will have to make a major push for developers to port their tablet apps to work on that system. And the hardware has to be better than the iPad. Can Amazon do that considering the advantages that Apple has with manufacturing? Google may have the Xoom, but they have not had luck with getting a strong influx of developers to move to Android tablet apps. Amazon has the experience with tablets and has the clout to draw developers in. Whether they have the will to finance it, and whether or not the court issues they are looking at will be a major distraction can be the deciding points.

A5 is the best processor on the market right now. Clock speed isn't everything. Tegra 3 will be the first to beat it.

And it's HP's own fault. They had a great OS but kept putting it on crappy hardware. And the TouchPad was a joke. Who would want to buy a tablet that's thicker, heavier, feels cheap, slow, laggy, buggy, and costs the same price as the iPad? The TouchPad doesn't really do much the iPad can't do. If I just wanted something different, Android is definitely the way to go.

A lot of people really like the webOS. There is a group that is looking at ways to keep it alive. And it is not just the TouchPad. Best Buy has announced that they are giving away Galaxie Tabs with certain high end Samsung HDTVs being sold. On the heels of the problems with the TouchPad, it may be a strong indication of desparately trying to unload stock. And if the Motorola Xoom was doing any good, I doubt if they would have sold off their mobile division.

It is like Ford/Chevy, or OU/OSU, and many other hard core rivals. The average fan hates the other side, but there is no satisfaction in trouncing an opponent that cannot be a competitor.

Bought the TouchPad. Can't beat a $100 tablet. :)