Zubair Salim, Marketing Director of Picsel, a cross-platform app developer had the following to say:
The iPad 2 is clearly an evolution, not a revolution. The market that Apple started in 2010 is now crowded with plenty of would-be competitors, hungry to steal their share of the market. Nevertheless, the iPad’s very strong hardware and software design has so far remained untouchable by any competitor. Undoubtedly, the improvements in the iPad 2 that make it faster, thinner and support video conferencing, will all be well-received by consumers.
It’s something of a surprise that Apple have stood by a wholly-owned proprietary platform that still ignores Flash, especially since Android Honeycomb (which is clearly the next big competitor) will make a huge push this year. Some may also say that the Apple UI is starting to look a little dated in the face of these new entrants…
Apple also seems to have missed a trick in not introducing more enterprise friendly features, such as further security and geo-fencing, that might have given the enterprise space the leap forward the consumer market enjoyed with the introduction of the first iPad. Perhaps this was also a lost opportunity to innovate in the mobile office space, where email and office editing could have been seamlessly combined with web services, such as Facetime and LinkedIn, to deliver a truly next-generation mobile-working experience.
It remains to be seen whether a competitor will be able to make a stronger grab for this market during 2011, but many strong enterprise players, such as RIM, HP and the new Nokia/MS hybrid, are certainly keen to enter the arena!
Thank You Zubair!
The list of items Zubair thinks Apple missed for 2011 is a software list, but it’s clear from today that Apple are now staggering the hardware and software releases for the iPad. We’ll need to wait till WWDC to see what’s in offer for 2011 from the software side, whether there’s a UI refresh or an enterprise push.