Ipad sales - Research Paper Example

As of today, iPad is still leading the computer tablet market despite the competitor’s effort to unseat iPad. Apple and iPad in particular success can be attributed to a lot of things. Apple in general made itself distinct by making its hardware and software work in synergy that enabled its products and services unequalled by its competitors. The best example that we can show for this is the synergy that its operating system iOS5 that provide synergy among the different product lines of Apple.

It powers the iPad, iPod and iPod touch which allows the three products to interact and complement each other. Its new computer operating system Lion also has an Air-drop feature that made sharing of information between Mac computers very convenient. Air-drops peer to peer wi-fi based network made file sharing so easy where it was such a pain before that it can induce consumers to upgrade to Mac to make file sharing easy with other Mac users. And iPad miniaturized all that features in a tablet which the reader can interact through its touch screen and the interest it stirred among its consumer created the computer tablet industry which proved to be profitable.

The computer tablet industry in the US continues to grow. By 2015, it is estimated that tablet users will grow from the present users of 26 million to 82.1 million market. To date, it is currently dominated by Apple Inc.’s Ipad 2 cornering around 75 percent of the total market share in September of 2011 leaving leaving only a 25 percent market share for its rivals (Huff Post, 2011). This is currently challenged by Amazon’s Kindle Fire whose recent performance in the market is predicted to dethrone Ipad’s leading position in the market.

Ipad however is quick to retaliate by launching its smaller version of iPad called iPad mini which is designed to compete with its close competitors Nexus and Kindle Fire (Arthur, 2012). The newest iPad's boast of faster A6X processor that adds extra system speed and graphics power to the tablet which is still unsurpassed by its competitors (Cnet, 2012). Being the pioneer in retina display, iPad also features clear, deep and crisp display which raised the bar in computer screens. Also, the synergy between iPad and Apple’sother product line is not only about the complementary nature of its devices but also its guarantee that Apple devices “just work”.

Unlike its competitors such as Google’s Android which is open to be used by many devices, Apple implemented a strict hardware and software control that guarantees synergy between the device and the software which provided iPad a distinct advantage over its competitors. As a result, Apple’s product lines does not have the vulnerability of Android where it suffers from hardware foibles because the hardware and software does not synergize. Apple may be a little pricey with a retail price of $499 compared to its competitors Nexus which is priced at $199 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire at $299 yet this disparity in price did not became prohibitive for its customers in acquiring the gadget.

And most consumers consider now the pricing of Apple products including iPad to be very competitive considering its quality and previous price. This relative competitive price of iPad was made possible by the briliant management of Apple’s supply chain by capitalizing its organizational capability of having huge cash reserves to leverage iPad. It made its supply