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Originally Posted by harryE123
. The academic, military and industrial markets have jumped all over the ipad, you only have to read the stories about pilot programs using ipad only in schools and unis, the military in the uk using the ipad to train soldiers, mercedes adopting the ipad for their stores
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All those examples combine to form a drop in the ocean compared to computers though. The iPad form factor is ideal for a middle ground between laptop and PDA/smartphone, but I don't see any compelling evidence of a demand there beyond a few 'pilot scheme' type things. It will be interesting to see what happens. I think most business uses for a tablet will still require legacy software as you suggest, and that won't be available on a closed system like the iPad.
The biggest boost to the iPad seems to be that people weren't really aware that tablets existed before the media storm around the iPad. Apart from a nice screen I can't see anything about the iPad that trumps traditional tablets with their USB ports, software compatibility, and full PC capabilities. I actually heard news reports of Apple inventing a new form factor that was 'revolutionary'...not how I'd describe a large iPod Touch or slimmer tablet PC..
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, all sorts of private apps being developped for said and other need. And of course there's anecdotal evidence, ie. the people we hear privately that have bought an ipad, there too the ipad has largely covered the traditional pc tablet market.
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But the traditional tablet PC market was always very small, and for good reason - tablets are not very good at a lot of things. My belief is that the current tablet craze will largely calm down when people get over the apparent newness of it. It's no coincidence that the marketing around the iPad focuses on it's slim design and responsive touch screen rather than its capabilities (have you ever seen an ad for an Apple product that didn't place its looks at the forefront?).
But today a full-fledged PC is getting less important, so tablets may start to encroach on the PC market (tablet sales, including the iPad are ridiculously insignificant compared to computers, laptops and netbooks at the moment). For all of Apple's bragging about iPad sales (which they curiously didn't do at their most recent event, which either points to a drop in sales or a significant increase worthy of awaiting a monster announcement), they are not making a dent in PC sales, which is not what the blanket iPad media coverage would have you believe.