So the news is out.
Its the iPad!!!

Gosh! The device perfectly lives up to the hype generated in the last few weeks as the last post describes.
Check out the Apple website or just google for the iPad, and you can get to know all of its features, its sleek design and everything else that makes it another Apple masterpiece.
What I wanted to share here are some strategic insights the the iPad offers for analysis.

1. Technology Reuse and Organic product evolution
Bloggers were talking about the new Apple device to be a tablet that runs on the iPhone OS. Well almost.
The iPad runs pretty much on the core of the path-breaking iPhone. The user interface is similar. And thus the user experience too. This is a perfect case of building or creating a new technology that can be reused, or made reusable from a design standpoint. Everything about Apple is a case study in evolution. The iTunes laid the platform for the iPod. The iPod got itself into a phone cum internet connection device called the iPhone. And now the iPhone has heralded the iPad. There have been many instances of technology products that cant scale up or grow organically and have been constantly forced to redesign from scratch. Oh i reminded of Microsoft Vista now. But hey dont want to spoil the party- its Apple’s day today!

2. Brand-Continuity
Closely tied to organic product evolution is brand continuity. The look and feel of the iPad is just like the iPhone or the iPod touch. Black aluminium shell and multi-glass touch screen. Oooh!

3. iTunes Store. App Store….and now….the iBook-Store
With iTunes for music and App Store for iPhone applications, Apple has basically pioneed the online store model as well along with its iPods and iPhones. The iPad brings with it the iBook-store, where users can easily buy and read books. There are already 5 major book publishers who have signed up for the bookstore to offer books online. Is this the end of the Kindle? Quite frankly, Amazon’s Kindle looks silly now. Personally i feel Amazon should have stuck onto its core competency of online retailing instead of getting into the e-reader device market. The Kindle is definitely not an iPad beater. And i am pretty sure Amazon will soon start selling iPads on their store. They already sell all the ipods and iPhone models. Will they sell the iPad too? That will be interesting considering that they claim Kindle to be the most sold holiday gift of 2009.
Amazon also has its own Kindle store where users can buy the Kindle version of online books for the Kindle e-reader. Keep a watch on who wins the ’store-wars’ now? By the way, the iBook-store application on the iPad is a visual stunner. take a look at the pics online. just visit www.apple.com
Life is good with Apple around! Truly

4. No its not Intel or AMD. Its Apple! Huh? Yeah!!!!
For a very long time Apple fashioned its devices based on chips/processors made by a company called PA Semiconductors. Apple has since bought the company. But they also changed their anti-Intel stand in 2005 and started using Intel chips for their devices. Now hold your breath. The iPad runs on a chip called A4. And yes its designed by Apple themselves specifically for the iPad combining the latest in hardware and software technologies with a processor speed of 1Ghz. At the start of today’s launch of the iPad, Steve Jobs openly declared that ‘Apple is a mobile phone company’ with its mobile phone revenues that have exceeded Sony, Samsung and even Nokia. For a company known to make computers and then music players, this is a terrific statement to make. And to think that they also made their own processor for the iPad? Whoa!!

5. iPad might slay the smartphone/netbook/e-reader in one shot
Just check out the device on blogs online. And read its features. Its got everything that will make you think its better than any of these devices I just mentioned. Not sure however is its capability to effectively work on corporate documents, and Office like files like presentations and word documents. It does allow those too, but for a device thats basically giving u the ultimate pleasure of entertainment and convenience, its not fair to expect it to replace your office laptop! And no! the iPad is much much more than a large sized iPod Touch. Whats going to be interesting is the global rollout of the iPad. Kindle is today being sold globally. iPhone took a while to enter India.  Wonder whats the Apple strategy on the iPad. Too early to tell perhaps.

6. Online Shopping. And Others
Online retailers and merchants now have the biggest incentive to invest more in online retailing. Coz the iPad comes with wireless as well as 3G data plans. That means you can either connect to the internet as you would on your regular laptop, or use your cellphone wireless network. Either way, online retailers who earlier jostled for increased screen space on the mobile phone (read smartphone) will now have a larger than life screen size to work with. And yet not too big to prevent shoppers from carrying the device in their hands and shopping on the move. Other players are moving quick too. The gaming industry is the biggest benefactor of the iPad with Electronic Arts reportedly already working on custom made iPad games and software. The newspaper industry plans capitalise on the pricepoint economics that have come along with the technology innovation. Oh by the way, on stage today was a demo of a New York Times application for the iPad where users can read newstories on the device and and view videos of stories right within the article. So you can click on a ‘newspaper picture’ in the article and ‘the web-clip’ or news video starts playing. A startup called Vook (meaning Video on Book) was in the news recently for creating e-readers and e-reader software that allows readers to read e-books and also view videos of the story embedded. Its not rocket science. But its new. Apple will kill them all with the iPad. We arent surprised.

7. The iPad SDK

When Apple announces a launch, there are some things that have become the norm: Steve Jobs announces the product in a packed house auditorium with a stunning life-size slideshow. He wears blue jeans and a black turtle neck shirt. Expect the words “never before” and “breakthrough” all the way, and dont worry, you are never disappointed. Steve Jobs means what he says. Then there is a ’store’ launch. There is talk of ‘Apps’. And so as we were expecting, Jobs announced that there the iPad would have access to all of the 140,000 iPhone Apps. They would work bigger and better on the iPad. But there were also Apps specific for the iPad. And Apple released the iPad SDK kit. Which means developers or people with passionate ideas like you and me can create applications for the iPad. Expect an explosion of the iPad apps.

8. AT&T and the pricing
Apple did not ditch AT&T contrary to customer dissatisfaction with the AT&T network connectivity on the iPhones. The reasons are ofcourse strategic. It makes sense to continue the deal with AT&T as Apple can extract a sweeter deal than if it partnered with Verizon. Besides AT&T has a more robus wi-fi network across the USA. The iPad starts at $499 dollars. Both Apple and AT&T (which has been coaxed-or bullied- into offerring a contract less 3G plan along with the device) have collaborated to keep the price affordable. I mean..did we really expect to get a tablet PC for 499$? From Apple? I got my HP laptop for like 600$ after some discounts. And it runs on Vista. What a pity!

Well the Apple website has a link to sign up for getting notified about the selling of the device.
80 minutes after Steve Jobs announced the device, that link was down. The last time Jobs announced a new version of iTunes, Twitter broke down.
Apple just loves to turn the tables. Sometimes literally. Well almost!

Oh take a look at the iPad for yourself and do share your thoughts.

Shantan

If you like your posts, do become our facebook fan. Thanks for visiting!

Related posts:

1. iPhone, Apple and Happy Customers!
2. Apple iPhone and its India Strategy
3. Google and the ebook war
4. The mystique & hype of Apple’s product launches
5. Does Apple have a self-imposed maximum market share limit?