Seeing iPad's success, firms jump in with own tablets
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 22:26 IST
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Seeing iPad's success, firms jump in with own tablets
Boston: As it was expected, iPad has managed to attract lot of customers and now more companies are planning to launch their own tablets to challenge Apple. HP, Samsung and Nokia have already announced plans to launch their own tablets soon. JooJoo has already launched its own tablet which it claims will be iPad killer. Experts feels that if other companies don't launch their tablets soon then it might be difficult to beat Apple. "You don't want to give that much of a lead to Apple because it otherwise becomes insurmountable. Right now the supply chain (for a Nokia tablet) is being primed up for a fall release. It has to be on the shelf by September-October to meet demand for the holiday window," said Ashok Kumar, analyst with Rodman and Renshaw, according to Reuters. Many small companies are coming up with their own tablet as well. But these tablets should be a credible enough to attract attention of customers. "Apple's brand and service offering means the iPad will be an exception in a category that will struggle to gain consumer acceptance," said CCS Insight Analyst Geoff Blaber. Companies have many options now to use for the operating system. Companies can go for Android, or the newly open sourced MeeGo operating system from Nokia and Intel, apart from the conventional Microsoft and Linux OS. "MeeGo is probably aimed mostly at the tablet market. I don't think Nokia or Samsung can afford to stay out of the tablet market. Nokia simply has to make a go at this segment, since it may end up cannibalizing the high-end smartphone market substantially," said Tero Kuittinen, analyst at MKM Partners. Analysts expect Apple to sell one million or more iPads in the current quarter ending in June. Wall Street expects the company to sell around five million in 2010, although estimates vary widely.

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