All early signs indicate that the iPad is a very big deal, we can all agree. But did you know that, if the iPad were counted as a mobile computing device, Apple’s share of the mobile market would jump from seventh to third? Yes, that’s how big a deal the iPad is, according to IDC.

Leaping over them all

Currently, IDC’s report pegs Apple as the seventh-largest manufacturer in the highly competitive worldwide market for portable computing, with 2.47 million Macbook Pro and Macbook laptops sold this past quarter – a rather impressive feat considering the limited range Apple sells. If you add the 3.27 million iPads Apple sold in this last quarter, the total number of mobile computing devices Apple sold is 5.74 million units.

More importantly, the company’s ranking on worldwide computer sales would change if we added iPad numbers to this. More specifically, if IDC were to consider the Apple tablet as part of Apple’s mobile computing lineup, the company would leap to third in worldwide sales. Behind only Acer and HP. Put even more bluntly, it would place Apple above Dell, Toshiba, Asus, and Lenovo.

Not such a joke anymore, huh?

Photo: Apple

When the Apple tablet was finally revealed after months of speculation, people were in a tiff about what it all meant. Tech circles poked fun at the ridiculous sanitary pad-inspired name (it’s still a silly name) and poked fun at it merely being an oversized iPhone. Arguments broke out over what it meant for computing, what it would be used for, and whether it would even sell.

Now the talking has ceased. All evidence is now pointing to the fact that people cannot stop buying iPads. Competitors are scrambling to catch up, and when their tablets finally reach market, they’ll almost all face a difficult challenge in catching up to the Apple tablet.

The only question that remains is should the iPad be considered as part of Apple’s mobile computing product range on IDC’s chart? Doubtless the competitors it would leapfrog would not be altogether impressed if it were. Apple itself probably doesn’t care, just as long as the company can carry on printing money.

Respected research group, Forrester Research, predicts that within the next three years, annual tablet sales will outstrip that of netbooks and desktops both.

2015 it will be settled

Forrester Research has predicted that come 2015, tablet computer sales will account for 23% of all computer sales in the US. This number will exceed the predicted marketshare for netbooks, which will account for 17%, and it will exceed that of desktops, which will account for 18% of the computer marketplace.

Tablets, predicts Forrester research, will overtake netbooks in 2012 and will overtake desktops in 2013, representing a massive flip in the market in a very short three to four years.

Why?

The big question is why Forrester expect this to happen? The general thinking in technology circles is that the current crop of tablets is more in-line with how we use smartphones than the previous crop, which attempted to replicate desktops. This task-based approach to computing is more inline with mobile computing, coupled with burgeoning app stores makes the second roll of the dice for tablets seem like the successful roll.

Who will be the big winners

Assuming tablet computer sales make up that much of the market in the next five years, who do we expect to dominate the market? More specifically, how much of the market can the Apple tablet computer, the iPad, keep considering it pretty much ushered in the current wave of tablet computers, capture?

The iPad has raced out the gates, selling over 2 million iPads in under 2 months. Apple, at its many big-stage press conferences announced they were selling an iPad ‘every three seonds’. But with the early dominance of the Apple tablet computer a string of very capable competitors have emerged, spearheaded by reputable manufacturers and industry figures alike.

Chrome OS and Android OS tablets are in the works, HP, Asus, Samsung, MSI and a bunch of other companies are dedicating significant resources to this market segment. Can they catch up with Apple and, if yes, how much market share will the Apple tablet computer keep at the fringes?

People are sure demanding the iPad, with the Apple tablet having sold two million units in just 58 days. And this is almost exclusively in North America.

Apple announced that it sold one million iPads within the first 28 days of availability. The company has since sold an additional million iPads in 30 days, bringing the total number of iPads in consumers’ hands north of 2 million. And to top it off, the iPad has only just gone on sale outside of North America.

British availability

The UK, as well as a host of other countries around the world, got their taste of the iPad on 28 May, with lines outside the flagship store and early sales looking promising enough to potentially dispel predictions the tablet won’t be a mass market device.

A new Apple toy = new revenue

Apple have been hitting home run after home run with their flagship products. Not only is the iPhone now contributing 40 per cent of the organisation’s revenue, the iPad has already brought in close on (if not more than) $1 billion (about £650 million) in revenue and it’s only been out for two months.

Photo: Apple

Add that alarming statistic to an even more remarkable figure – Apple have also recently surpassed Microsoft’s market cap to become the most valuable technology company in the world, thanks, in part, to a share price surge the iPad clearly helped along.

The game changer

Prior to the iPads arrival and even now, many are questioning if the Apple tablet (and tablets in general) are a legitimate market. While Apple’s pitch was that the iPad fit snugly in the vertical between the smartphone and the laptop, others were unsure about that proposition. If these early results are anything to go by, the iPad has certainly created a fantastic revenue channel for Apple, if one insists on denying the viability of the market.

A market researcher postulates the Apple tablet will not be a mass market product in the UK. In other news, market researchers do more guesswork than most of us and 73 per cent of all stats are made up.

Niche customer base

Mike Stevens, Director of the Telecoms, Media and Technology team at Simpsons Carpenters, ran this research along four qualitative groups of typical iPad-wielding British consumers. The conclusion? The iPad UK sales will be made to a niche audience.

Justification

In Stevens’ defense, his justification was the iPhone ‘revolutionized an existing category that people understood’ whereas the iPad is trying to create a whole new category, which many people will (initially, at the least) fail to see how it fits into their lives.

It might be

Photo: Apple

We don’t necessarily disagree with him, but rather that we think he’s taking a guess. Educated guess, perhaps, but a guess, no less. Prior to the Apple tablet launching, many market researchers and analysts guessed there wouldn’t be a market for the iPad, and after 1 million units sold 28 days later they are changing their tune. These same market researchers and analysts guessed the Apple tablet sold 700,000 weekend one, when, in fact, it sold under 400,000.

In this regard, it is Mike Stevens’ job to guess (sorry, research and conclude), and technology sites like our own to report on these gue… sorry, this research,

UK Rollout

In terms of hard facts, the iPad UK release, as well as some other countries worldwide, is scheduled for 28 May. Both the Wi-fi only and Wi-fi + 3G Apple tablet versions will be available on day one, with pricing ranging from £429 for the 16GB iPad Wi-fi all the way to £699 for the 64GB iPad Wi-fi + 3G.

The iPad UK release is upon us, with a date of 28 May set, as well as the various networks and where to buy.

Release schedule

In addition to the iPad UK release on the 28^th, Australia, France, Canada, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Japan get the Apple tablet on the same day. On day one, both the iPad Wi-fi and the iPad Wi-fi + 3G will be available.

UK pricing

The cheapest iPad is £429, with the most expensive version available for £699. For the Wi-fi iPad only, pricing is £429, £499, and £599 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB version respectively.

The iPad Wi-fi + 3G costs £529, £599 and £699 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions respectively.

Photo: Apple

A major question mark is whether Apple is taking advantage of the UK market by charging a premium. The equivalent iPad Wi-fi 16GB costs £330 in the US, a full £100 less than what is paid in the UK. The most expensive iPad costs the equivalent of £540 in the US, whereas in the UK we’re paying £699, £160 more.

Admittedly, these back of the napkin calculations don’t factor in the state-to-state taxes in the US, but UK customers, as has been customary in the UK, are paying a little more for an Apple product.

UK Carriers

The Apple tablet ships unlocked so any carrier can create the micro-sim required to support 3G data on the iPad. Orange unveiled its pay-as-you-go PAYG pricing where data access costs 5p per mb, up to £40 monthly. Additionally, Orange have four data bundles so as to save money.

Where to buy

The iPad UK sales will take place in Apple retail stores, the Apple online store, and authorized resellers, too. Some retailers are already selling the iPad, unofficially.

While technology publications are enamored with the Apple tablet and touch devices in general, research company Gartner predicts these devices will have traction with some, but not with others.

Cool with the kids

Gartner predicts that, come 2015, 50 per cent of all PCs bought for children under the age of 15 will have touchscreens. That prediction isn’t that hard to believe, considering how many touchscreen computer screens, laptops and tablet devices have been released lately and are currently in development.

Not so bullish on enterprise

Where this is not applicable, however, the research firm continues, is in big business. Gartner predicts less than 10 per cent of PCs sold to enterprises, for ‘mainstream knowledge workers’ will have touchscreen interfaces.

Essentially, the firm believes it will be the consumer market that forces the market to start adopting newer technology.

Analysis

Before analysing these predictions, it is worth being mindful that any predictions research companies make regarding new technology like the Apple tablet and other tablet devices are essentially shots in the dark.

Photo: Apple

Having said that, the fact that the consumer market will force enterprise to adopt change will always hold true since it is far more costly for enterprise system overhauls than for individual consumers. Rather let technology prove itself in the wild before making multi-billion pound mistakes.

The second thing worth being mindful of is that no killer app has been developed for enterprise on tablet computers. Just like it required killer apps like VisiCalc and productivity suites to help computers break into businesses, tablets and touchscreen devices may have software like that just waiting to be built. This may be for the Apple iPad, or for a multitude of other devices, but it takes just a group of applications to render Gartner’s prediction false.

Though all the tablet focus seems to be on the iPad, a small handful of manufacturers are making genuine competitors to the Apple tablet – enter the Hanvon Touchpad BC10.

Hanvon what?

Hanvon is a company founded in 1998 that first broke out in Europe making a cheap, yet competent e-reader and well-liked graphics tablets. The fact that they’re making the leap into what is quickly becoming a shark-infested shovelware-laden buzz market may be discouraging on the surface, given their lack of pedigree, but early impressions indicate their tablet is actually a worthwhile machine.

The specs

The Hanvon Touchpad BC10C runs Windows 7. Though we lament tablets that run shrunk-down desktop operating systems, the hardware specs are undeniably impressive. This 10-inch tablet runs video at full 1080P HD, sports a 1.3GHz Celeron processor as well as GMA4500 graphics. The requisite capacitive touchscreen is present and a deluge of ports, including HDMI-out for home viewing, are built into the device.

The not-so-good part

The device is scheduled for release in China on 25 March with Europe and North America being planned for later. Early price clues indicate the device will cost close on $900 (£600), an altogether alarming price that’s more expensive than the top-of-the-line iPad with 3G and a mere $100 (£65) shy of the price of two entry-level iPads. And while it may seem unfair to not judge this device on its own merit, the Apple tablet, much like the iPod to mp3 players, has quickly become the standard people judge tablets on.

Still, there’s something there

Even then, though, pricing and Windows 7 aside, the Hanvon Touchpad BC10C is very promising. It’s a widescreen tablet with sturdy hardware and a familiar operating system. Where it is not expected this first bite at the cherry will be comparable to that of the Apple tablet, this could very well be a fantastic framework for great things to come.

Negative sentiment be damned, the Apple iPad has reportedly been pre-ordered over 100,000 times over a weekend, raking in revenue of at least $49 million before the device is even available.

The supporters: tablet computing is here

Some analysts view the initial success of the Apple tablet as confirmation that consumers are ready for this new sub-category of computing devices. Others argue that the initial success is a result of Apple’s hard-earned reputation for quality over the last decade, especially, and others still argue the spillover from the iPhone is the primary driver for sales.

Photo: Apple

Regardless, this should put Apple close to its presumably conservative sales estimations as well as reaffirm predictions of supply shortage come launch date. The company seems content on pushing their tablet through pre-orders so as to reap revenue with as much immediacy as possible, as well as build more hype on the back of short supply.

And the rest

In addition to the Apple tablet going on pre-order, various accessories such as the keyboard dock and VGA adapter were also available to pre-purchase. During the pre-order phase, other information regarding the iBook store and DRM emerged, with the expected Fairplay DRM being included in books bought on the iBook store – meaning those books can only be read on the Apple tablet.

The detractors: foolhardy consumers

Photo: Apple

Some have dismissed purchasing the Apple tablet, a product that is neither available for release and that has been in the hands of so few people outside the media, as plain stupid. These naysayers, who are not necessarily against the Apple iPad, maintain that Apple mania could lead to consumers feeling a burn in their pocket for a device that may not, in the end, be deemed worth it.

What is safe to say is if the Apple iPad bombs, it would have bombed having tripped over a hurdle, rather than struggling to get out of the gates fast enough.