Rivals see chance to catch up with tablet giant

With the launch of the next generation of its ipad tablet, Apple Inc. has staked, once again, its claim to the throne atop the tablet kingdom — while at the same time opening a window for its rivals to finally catch up.

As Apple chief executive Tim Cook wrapped up his first major product unveiling event since the death of his company’s co-founder Steve Jobs last fall, perhaps no one was as excited about what he had to say as Apple’s competitors.

Despite all the hype and media attention surrounding the launch of Apple’s third-generation ipad, investors and observers responded to the Cupertino, Calif., company’s latest offering with a collective shrug.

For Apple’s rivals, most notably Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., the incremental improvements in the latest ipad may be just the opportunity they need to establish themselves as legitimate competitors to the world’s most valuable company.

When the ipad 2 was unveiled last year, it was seen as an incremental upgrade over the original version of the device, adding a couple of cameras and improving battery life. It now appears that Apple’s move from second- to third-generation ipad is even less of a bold leap forward and more of a tepid shuffle from an underwhelming top dog.

Still, the “new ipad” will be a tremendous success by an ordinary company’s measure. It will help power ahead Apple’s sales and will move the company further into its “post-pc” paradise, where 76 per cent of the company’s revenues now come from non-mac devices like the iphone and ipad.

Apple’s lead in the tablet market is already shrinking. When the first ipad went on sale in April of 2010, Apple reignited a dormant market and then completely dominated it. If you bought a tablet in 2010, chances are it was an ipad.

But thanks to the rise of Google Inc.’s Android software, and the myriad manufacturers now building for the platform — including Samsung Electronics and Amazon. com Inc. — Apple’s lead is slipping. Even Research In Motion Ltd.’s much maligned Blackberry Playbook has seen some recent success after several discounts and promotions.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, despite selling more ipads than in any other quarter to date, Apple saw its share of the global tablet market fall to 57.6 per cent, down from 68.2 per cent at the end of 2010, according to data from market research firm Strategy Analytics.

The new ipad is quite possibly the best tablet on the market today. We have just come to expect more of Apple.