The success of Apple’s new iPad has prompted other tech companies to plunge into the market for tablet computers, with startups and major PC makers racing to introduce their own competing devices before the end of the year.
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Verizon Wireless confirmed Tuesday that they have a tablet in the works. Speculation is swirling around the intentions of Hewlett-Packard, the world’s biggest PC maker and the company that some believe has the best shot at catching up with Apple’s early iPad lead. Meanwhile, everyone from upstart Fusion Garage to established names such as Dell are jumping into the pool.
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Experts say the iPad’s early sales figures — Apple said that it sold 1 million in four weeks — are proof there’s a strong market for such products. But it’s unclear if other manufacturers can duplicate the iPad’s appeal, or if Apple will dominate the market in the same way its iPods are much better known than competing music players.
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Anybody can make a tablet. I could go to Taiwan, hire a contract manufacturer, and make ‘Bob’s tablet,’ said Bob O’Donnell, an industry analyst with International Data Corp. The hard part is doing the software and getting the applications.
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If any company has that ability, analysts say that HP, which sold nearly 60 million PCs last year, has the size and clout to line up deals with major content providers and mount a massive promotional campaign.
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They can do that. So you have to take HP seriously, said Jayson Noland, who follows the tech industry for Robert W. Baird Co.
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Earlier this year, even before the iPad officially went on sale, HP launched an Internet marketing campaign to promote a tablet it calls the Slate, which was designed to run on Microsoft software and which HP promised to begin selling this year. But plans to buy…