Apple is King: Update
Last week, when WebOS was going to be the system powering TouchPads and H-P Computers, I said H-P was the one legitimate contender to become a real competitor of Apple's.
H-P was going to start building their own ecosystem with computers and tablets and an OS to make them interoperable.
Hewlett-Packard is quitting the game. They're going to jettison the TouchPad, leave the PC business, and stop supporting WebOS. Generally, when you see someone quit a lifelong career it's a sign of a midlife crisis.
If you see Hewlett-Packard wearing a lot of bling, driving a sports car and smoking Shermans, you'll know for sure. In summary: Despite the appearance of a potential challenger, Apple still has zero competitors. Someone will have to develop a technology to render obsolete what Apple hasn't even introduced yet. Good luck with that.
In other news, it turns out that Apple makes the second most popular smartphone in the U.S. If you guessed the iPhone 3GS, you'd be right. It's right behind the iPhone 4.
Various BlackBerry and Android thingies are fighting over the stuff at the bottom of the aquarium, while Apple gets all the goodies.
As for the iPad market (which you're supposed to report as the "tablet" market, even though it's bullshit because all other tablets suck), it looks like Apple has wrapped that up pretty good. No other tablet has attracted as much attention as a fart at a chili feed.
Now, looking at the "tablet" market, the only products most people can name are the iPad and iPhone. Seriously. Off the top of your head, what's the name of an HTC tablet? How about LG?
Answers: Flyer, G-Slate.
Companies other than Apple name their computers, too. Apple has the MacBook, MacBook Air Jordan, Mac Pro and iMac.
What does Dell call their computers? How about Acer?
The tipping point has passed.
Why should the IT department put a computer on your desk when an iPad will cover most of your computer needs? If the iPad does all you need, it will probably do for at home, too. If that's the case, it will probably do all you need it to do when you travel, too. That's two Windows desktop machines and a laptop you didn't buy because you have an iPad.
Multiply that by the number of people who only use a computer for the connectivity, who don't create high-bandwidth-processor-intensive content, who only need email and web surfing. You have just done the arithmetic for why somebody had better innovate up something new and cool pretty soon or Apple is going to be the only tech company standing.
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