∞ Apple's not that innovative, anyone can make a tablet, right?

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Tablets are everywhere these days. Every major company in the market is making a tablet and have plans to release them within a year. And they all look like an iPad.
[ad#Google Adsense 300x250 in story]I often ridicule companies for their lack of thought and innovation in making tablets and smartphones because a lot of the time, they look amazingly like Apple’s products. The only difference is they are released a year after Apple.

Recently I heard a comment: Well, there’s only one way to make a tablet. It’s flat with a touch screen and a black border around the screen. That’s what we expect a tablet a look like. (I paraphrased).

No, that’s what we expect a tablet to look like now. Only after Apple released the iPad do we expect tablets to look like that.

Before the iPad was released, people were excited about the Microsoft Courier (pictured left), now people are talking about the Samsung’s Galaxy, RIM’s PlayBook and Dell’s Streak.

So, if a tablet is supposed to look like an iPad, why didn’t any of these companies develop it before 2010? Did all of the engineers in the world have the same idea and Apple just happened to beat them to market?

Clearly, tablets have been around for a long time, but none of them looked like an iPad. It took Apple’s innovation to make the tablet what we know today.

Judging from the release schedule, Apple’s competition is about a year behind.


  • Pb

    There have been Windows tablets for years. No one copied them, or even gave a rats ____ about them.
    That is the difference between throwing something together and intelligent design!!

  • Steve W, Indialantic FL

    “Well, there’s only one way to make a tablet. It’s flat with a touch screen and a black border around the screen. That’s what we expect a tablet a look like.”

    ROFLMBAO!!!

    When the iPad made its debut, people thought that the black border looked stupid until they realized that it there to provide a place for thumbs to hold the iPad – because the iPad is so big. Notice that the Courier does not have that border.

    The Samsumg Galaxy Tab has the black border. The Galaxy Tab’s screen is smaller than the iPad’s screen. In all their promotional photos, they make a point of showing that the Galaxy Tab can be held with one hand. So why the border? If Samsung eliminated the border, then they could make the Galaxy Tab so small that it would be obvious that it could be held in one hand. Talk about stupid. (Oh, right – then it would be obvious how small it is.)

    Even the name is stupid. Why not call it the Galaxy?

  • Simon

    Fanboy much?

    Everyone likes making it seem like apple created a brand new product. And in some sense, I suppose thy have. They created a capacitive screen slate tablet that runs large versions of iPhone apps.

    But how innovative is this really? As many have said, tablets have been around for a while. And the ipad isn’t really much different from an iPod touch. They haven’t created anything new themselves. They just enlarged a previous innovation and claimed it to be a new one.

    The only thing innovative, if you can reallycall it that, is that apple put their iOS on a tablet to make it more user friendly. That’s all you can really give them credit for here.

    • Kafka’s Vault

      I understand the much played-out dismissal, but for the accusation of fanboy not to be borne of a troll you must be able to explain why, despite the much lauded lack of true innovation, they appear to have sold millions and millions, and why every company with a vested interest in tech production is trying their hardest to emulate.

    • Gustav

      I don’t think you understand the difference between invention and innovation. Invention is when you create something brand new. Innovation is when you put together existing things to use it in a new or superior way.

      Yes, PC tablets have been around, but the OS was not designed for touch use, they were expensive, and the pen capabilities were simply a hack to replace actually developing suitable UI, because PC tablet makers were too afraid to release something without Windows.

      So what if it uses the same OS as the iPod touch? They released a device with a suitable UI and suitable software designed for it (rather than a desktop computer) and that resonated with customers and solved a need that PC tablets (or netbooks) couldn’t.

      That is innovation, whether you like it or not.

      • Stephen

        What Gustav says:

        I don’t think you understand the difference between invention and innovation. Invention is when you create something brand new. Innovation is when you put together existing things to use it in a new or superior way.

        Exactly right.

    • Reality is that iPad sells

      @Simon

      They sold 15 million of the suckers. So there must be something innovative since no one else sold one tenth of that.

    • Radiomoscow

      only someone who has never used an ipad would suggest its a large ipod touch ;)

      • http://twitter.com/ankleskater Ankle Skater

        I have an iPad, on my second one now. I have had an iPod Touch. Calling the iPad a large iPod Touch is appropriate, and should not be taken as a criticism. Obviously, the size difference makes some applications more useful on one vs. the other. But it is what it is, and there is absolutely nothing wrong or negative with the analogy.

  • Eric

    I suspect this new Blackberry tablet will be initially sell well in IT departments, but once people actually use them, they’ll want iPads. It’s the OS, stupid!

  • Peter

    Our IT group is very excited about the RIM Playbook. On the other hand, they have refused to provide any support whatsoever for the dozen or so Apple iPads that have appeared in our organization. In fact, they initially attempted to block all orders until the VP that we report to stepped in. I have had every sort of Windows based netbook/tablet come across my desk. They have all been perfectly horrible for day to day use – does anyone actually test these things?

    The iPad, on the other hand has been a joy to use. It connects perfectly with our Exchange server so my email, calendar, and contacts are always available. It moves between the various wireless networks perfectly.

    • Eric

      It’s not part of the orthodoxy. And when the orthodoxy is challenged, they have to protect themselves or they might be exposed as heretics, er, incompetent.

      • Mark

        You’re an IT guy who can’t configure a windows based machine to interface with your server? How qualified are you? All Apple does is dress up things (I strongly believe Steve Jobs is lying when he says he doesn’t do any market researcher, I think most of Apple is market research). I use windows 7 based tablets, and I have used windows vista tablets. The ability to run Microsoft Office, play video games, connect securely to VPNs, and write programs and scripts all  in the tablets have been the cornerstone of my support for Windows (and Linux). I am a computational researcher so I have to test and write scripts all the time. Most of Windows based problems is due to stupid programing. This stupid programing is not from Windows’ side, but from the side of the third party. Windows builds in backdoors to allow your IT people to fix your computer. I love how if you have a problem with an Apple computer you need to send it to a “genius” who are really just almost college-dropouts without a lick of programing skills. the iMAC was a piece of crap I had to use in elementary school that constantly froze. The iPOD is an overpriced glorified MP3 player that does less than what a customized mp3 player would do (before and after the iPOD’s release). The iPod touch is a bastardized smartphone since it cannot be truly productive due to its lack of programmability and interface. Oh people can argue you can use remote desktop apps built into Apple to connect to a windows machine. Who wrote the remote desktop protocol, Apple? Nope, it was Microsoft! Apple is very good at cheating their customers and selling them stuff that looks superficially well put together, but really is a crapped-out version of Linux since it has less support for new protocol and encryption methods. Also, it lacks the modularity of Linux since the NEXT kernel was too modified from the original GNU Hurd specifications to bring true hardware compatability. Wake up people, PC’s are modular, but Apple products aren’t because all their programs are compiled for one set of hardware, and they still can’t squeeze out the performance of Linux on it. The NEXT/Apple-mach microkernel approach was already done by Microsoft through their hybrid NT kernel. Face it, Apple is a novelty for people who rather consume than produce, we don’t need more of those people in the US.

        • http://www.jphotog.com Hrunga Zmuda

          Who’s an IT guy? I work for a living.

  • Milos

    I’ve learned something a very long time ago. If it’s not made by Apple, it belongs in the garbage. ESP when it has the words Microsoft on it.

  • iphonerulez

    Before Apple introduced the iPad and started selling them in the millions I doubt there were very few top tech companies that were interested in fooling around with any “tablets”. They were all caught up with their wonderful “netbooks for consumers” crap. In fact, so many of those so-called analysts and pundits that Apple allowed to play with the iPad were all saying how stupid a crippled tablet was and that nobody would buy such a piece of junk. I’m sure the big boys in the computer industry were laughing, too. They sort of stopped laughing when Apple sold a few million of those “hopelessly crippled toys” in a couple of months. Suddenly, all the big tech companies caught tablet fever and started saying they were heavily into tablet research for years and they, too, would have a tablet that far surpassed anything a company like Apple could build.

    Their tablets would do much more and cost much less than anything Apple could make. Just who the hell did Apple think it was bypassing netbooks and selling tablets? Hell, Microsoft couldn’t sell tablets to consumers for ten years and Apple does it in a couple of months. They figured that anybody could design a tablet with just some spare netbook parts and sell them by the truckloads. Skip the research since Apple has already done it for them.

    Arrogance has its shortcomings. So does greed. The big companies laughed at Apple for introducing a tablet and then greedily aiming to grab the tablet market from Apple and panning the iPad as being too simplistic in nature. The iPad was lacking USB ports and lacking Flash support. Yet six months later and barely a single tablet that matches the iPad is for sale. The Dell Streak is just a big smartphone and the Galaxy Tab is basically an even bigger smartphone with an equally big price tag to match. (The Galaxy Tab is a nice full-featured tablet but many see it as being overpriced)

    Why don’t these companies just shut up with their criticisms of the iPad and get their own act together? Apple is the company selling close to ten million iPads to consumers. All these other companies are just running their mouths about how they’re going to put Apple out of business with their “better” iPads yet not even selling one tablet to date. It’s become fashionable on a slow day for some tech company to announce it’s coming out with A TABLET at an indeterminate time to steal some cheap attention from the iPad. Disgusting and pathetic “Me, too.” headline grabbing tactics. They honestly deserve to fail big time with their constant boasting.

  • Jamie

    I was saying the same about the iPhone, the smart phone landscape was an entirely different proposition before it debuted (watch the unveiling Apple event again and listen to the oohs and ahhs). Some of the Android phones are great devices, but to pretend they aren’t a blatant rip-off of the concepts and design of the iPhone is just silly. This was the case with the iPod, and now the iPad as well (and for the kids in the audience, if you want to go further back, it was true of the Mac OS too. Apple was once the underdog, believe it or not).

    I would actually *love* it if there were competing devices that were revolutionary and not just carbon copies that boasted better hardware than Apple’s stuff (and Apple nearly always surpasses them in their next rev. anyway). Genuine innovation on the part of the rest of the industry would be a huge, gigantic, wonderful breath of fresh air, I’d be excited about it. But it’s as true now as it was then: the industry waits for Apple to make something and awkwardly follows suit.

  • Nick

    OMG I saw the word Fanboy again. Well I’m a pro user, 25 years worth, and I am very very selective about the tools that enter my studio. Apple has ALWAYS been the tool of choice, nobody else even comes close in my industry (music, film & TV). That’s what we ALL use. I guess if I played Doom all day a PC would be fine.
    Again, Apple has refined an idea in a way no one else has even come close to. They didn’t make the first smartphone, they made the best one. They didn’t invent the mouse, but they built the best GUI.
    Same with the iPad. Let the copying begin. If history is any guide, by the time someone has gotten close Apple will release their next elegant bombshell.
    Can’t wait for the Windows 7 phone by the way…

  • http://theiloop.com Zaib

    There is a difference….everyone can make a mobile phone, a music player or a tablet but the thing is how they make it

  • bertybassett

    Dell, HP, Samsung, LG, etc here is a hint don’t play catch up for the table scraps for the tablet market, apple already has that one corned, why not try to clone/jump start appleTV and AirPlay as that will be the next big thing.

  • Jth9234

    The iPad is innovative in that it created a new market for tablet computers that didn’t exist before and while Apple didn’t invent the tablet computer, it made the first one that was intuitive and worth using.

    The iPad2 is the current benchmark in tablets, but I am actually really enjoying my 7” Playbook. Before the original iPad though tablets were not on the radar for most people, Apple essentially invented a new market…