The Competition

Amazon holding a press conference on September 28, is it to announce its iPad competitor?

By chrisoldroyd, Friday, Sep 23, 2011 a 1:52 pm

Amazon is sending out invites for a press conference on Wednesday September 28 in New York. The word on the street is that Amazon will finally make one of the worst kept tech secrets official and announce its iPad competitor. The invite gives nothing away; it’s just a text based invite with no clues at all.

Microsoft previews Windows 8 as desktop/tablet iPad rival

By chrisoldroyd, Wednesday, Sep 14, 2011 a 12:16 pm

Yesterday Microsoft gave us a brief look at its next operating system, code named Windows 8. The operating system will be aimed at not only desktop and laptop PC systems but also the tablet market. Will Windows 8 deliver enough for a Windows Tablet to become a real competitor to the iPad and iOS?

Acting president of HTC America claims the iPhone is no longer cool

By chrisoldroyd, Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 a 5:53 am

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Martin Fichter, the acting president of HTC America has been talking at the Mobile Future Forward conference in Seattle. He claims that college kids no longer find the iPhone to be cool. The information that he shares is not exactly based on hard facts; he talked with a few of the kids on his daughter’s floor and came to this rather strange conclusion!

Competitors still struggling in the shadow of the iPad

By Georgia, Sunday, Sep 4, 2011 a 10:19 am

While I can't claim for sure TiPb was the first to say there wasn't a tablet market, just an iPad market, we've been talking for a long time now about how the iPad has become so dominant, so fast, it's left very little room in mainstream hearts and wallets for competitors. The latest cases in point:

US Samsung Galaxy S II Android invasion begins [Competition]

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Aug 31, 2011 a 10:18 am

Phil from Android Central went and got his geeky little hands on the new Samsung Galaxy S II phones set to hit US carriers soon -- and come this fall go up against iPhone 5. And... they're big. Up to 4.52-inches of big. So big I'm wondering why Samsung didn't just simplify their branding and call them Galaxy Tab 4.5. (Maybe because Spring Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch just rolls off the tongue so much more easily?)

Acer reports quarterly losses, blames iPad "fever"

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Aug 24, 2011 a 9:49 am

Acer has reported their first ever quarterly loss and Chairman J.T. Wang is placing the blame squarely on "tablets" (i.e. iPad), a "fever" he does not think will last. Having seen their fortunes rise with the netbook market most hurt by Apple's iPad, Wang concedes it would be impossible for Acer to break even this year, but thinks iPad will face and netbooks will regain consumer interest moving forward.

Right.

BlackBerry getting new music sharing service... iOS still has Ping

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Aug 19, 2011 a 7:12 pm

Microsoft offers subscription music via their Zune service, and now another iPhone and iPad rival, RIM's BlackBerry, might be joining the party. Kevin from CrackBerry.com has the scoop:

Did iPad kill HP's hardware business?

By Georgia, Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 a 7:23 pm

After Apple introduced the iPad I wondered out loud on iPad Live whether it would leave any air in the room for eventual tablet rivals. It turns out I might have been right, but also might not have been right enough. The iPad, and now iPad 2, might not have left any air in the room for any hardware rivals, tablet or PC.

HP is not only killing off their webOS hardware and looking to license the software, HP is spinning or selling off their laptop and desktop computer business as well. Why?

HP to discontinue webOS devices -- Pre, Veer, and TouchPad bite the dust

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 a 4:37 pm

HP has just announced that they're killing off webOS devices, namely the Pre, Veer, and TouchPad -- or everything that competes with iPhone and iPad.

In addition, HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.

Derek Kessler, editor of our sibling site PreCentral.net pulls no punches:

iPad rivals still can't find a tablet market

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Aug 17, 2011 a 6:24 pm

Apple has proven time and time again that they're driven to innovate regardless, that they can successfully compete against themselves, but nothing drives them to innovate and compete faster and in a more focused fashion than a successful rival. Sadly, when it comes to iPad, rivals are proving anything but successful at the point.