iCompete

Is Apple slipping?

   Apple's  financial prowess is largely due to it's
 many successful products like the iTouch,
MacBook, and iPod Nano.
Photo by Mike Choromanski  

For any Mac user, it is difficult to watch your tech brand of choice as it staves off an onslaught of competition.  As successful as Apple’s products might be, it’s hard to look past some of the recent events that make it seem as though the company’s dedication is slipping.

In recent years, Apple has a nearly countless variety of extremely popular products, successfully coating the world with it’s signature “i” brand on everything.  On the current trend however, products like the Motorola Droid are rapidly catching up with Apple’s iPhone based on overall sales.

In addition to Apple’s iPhone being answered by the Droid, which uses Google’s similar Android operating system, is the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab, or simply, “the Tab.”  

The Tab is the do-it-all tablet-shaped machine that will compete with Apple’s iPad.  In comparison to the iPad the Tab may be tiny, but don’t let its size fool you.  It’s no pushover.  Unlike some of the competition’s products, the Tab is supposed to hit store shelves very soon, quite possibly by Black Friday according to Product Reviews.

In an column published in Nov. 11, Principle Technology Columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Walter S. Mossberg said that the Tab is a good product and will be able to do everything that the iPad can do and then some.  In addition to having a camera and being much lighter, the Tab will be able to launch with several wireless carrier options.  An optional feature for the iPad.

In his column, Mossberg states that the Tab is being introduced by three major wireless phone carriers within the week.  Mossberg, who has personally tested the Tab, claims that Samsung’s product will be more than equipped to compete with Apple’s iPad.

“It includes the three most-requested features missing in the iPad: a camera (two in fact); the ability to run Web videos and applications written in Adobe's Flash software; and multitasking.”  Mossberg said.

While the Tab can’t keep up with the iPad’s processing speed, durability, and battery life, there’s no doubt that it will have a fair chance at outselling it, especially with a slightly cheaper price tag.  Although no one can argue that the iPad wins the battle of quality, Apple’s products have been successful in the past by being both quality and efficient.

In addition to the imminent Tab/Pad battle, Apple is also disappointing both loyal and potential consumers by delaying the release of the Verizon Wireless version of the iPhone.  

Although the product has been confirmed, Verizon Communications Inc. President Lowell McAdam refused to comment on the matter to the New York Times and Apple refused to talk to both the Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The trouble is, no one knows for sure when the product will be available.

While there is a fail amount of rumor and speculation surrounding the matter, most sources, including The Wall Street Journal, agree that the product will not be available to consumers until early 2011.

This both frustrates consumers and makes them question the companies’ intelligences.  Verizon Wirless, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. by subscribers, being paired with Apple’s iPhone, seems like common sense.  However, the delayed combination will surely cost both companies a fair amount of potential revenue in the upcoming holidays season.  Particularly those who have been wanting to have and iPhone for a long time, but live in rural communities and must stay with Verizon due to the fact that it is the only service that they can get.

Apple is by no means in any danger of dying.  But if they’re not careful, they may not be the big dog for much longer.