蘋果公司應該還能享受一段統(tǒng)治平板電腦的快樂時光。但2011年假日銷售季節(jié)各類廠商將推出大量平板電腦，其中許多產(chǎn)品的價格將大大低于iPad。 蘋果面臨的壓力日益增大，而且未來幾個月肯定會更大。蘋果尋求通過德國和澳洲的法院來保護自己的地盤。 有些人說，價格并不是針對iPad的有效競爭工具。但最近惠普TouchPad的例子說明，許多買主樂意搶購非常便宜的產(chǎn)品，而不愿意為顯然引領市場潮流的蘋果產(chǎn)品支付500多美元。惠普TouchPad在大幅降價之后，幾天內(nèi)就被搶購一空。 除了通常的PC和智能手機廠商(華碩，戴爾，HTC，聯(lián)想，摩托羅拉，RIM，三星和東芝)，最近幾周我還在電子零售商的貨架上看到了以前與電腦市場沒什么關系的企業(yè)推出的各種平板電腦。進入該市場或者暗示將進入該市場的廠商包括華為、LG、諾基亞、索尼愛立信和中興通訊。而且這個名單在不斷拉長。 例如，Vizio擁有非常有吸引力的平板電腦，與其平板電視一同在美國出售。Vizio 8英寸平板電腦正在作為娛樂設備銷售，將“讓你在指尖享受娛樂自由”。 這款Vizio平板電腦完全具備其它多數(shù)平板電腦的特點：可以瀏覽網(wǎng)頁、觀看電視、電影、音樂和應用，而且經(jīng)過了優(yōu)化可以充當萬能遙控器，可以滿足一切娛樂需求。它采用谷歌安卓操作系統(tǒng)，零售價約為329美元，而較低端的蘋果iPad還要賣到499美元。確實，它不是iPad，無疑，蘋果迷們會這樣告訴你。但到12月，Vizio平板電腦零售價可能降到300美元以下，屆時可能吸引家長、配偶甚至企業(yè)前來購買。我可能給我上高中的孩子買一個這樣的產(chǎn)品。 還有熱炒的亞馬遜平板電腦，預計將在本季度上市，價格同樣較低。帶著亞馬遜的品牌，它可能與該公司其它產(chǎn)品與服務有更緊密的聯(lián)系，據(jù)稱亞馬遜準備在該平板上面承受一些虧損，通過書籍、音樂和錄像等產(chǎn)品的銷售加以彌補。 除了iPad，消費者擁有大量誘人的其它選擇。在上述產(chǎn)品上市之后，消費者可能就不會擔憂可能買不起iPad了。 我對消費者不太擔憂，他們處于有利地位。我比較擔心生產(chǎn)平板電腦的OEM廠商和生產(chǎn)平板電腦部件的供應商。如果爆發(fā)價格戰(zhàn)，所有人都會受傷。目前平板市場所期待的利潤率，最終會震動市場，但在一些供應商和OEM廠商虧損慘重之前，市場不會受到振動。 我認為，廠商很快就會研究另一種做法。這是一種捆 綁策略，智能手機廠商和電信服務提供商用得不錯，即產(chǎn)品大幅折價或者免費派送，只要消費者愿意簽署多年期的訂閱協(xié)議。如果平板產(chǎn)業(yè)采用這種做法，我們不僅會看到更加便宜的平板電腦，而且許多產(chǎn)品可能會免費送給電信訂戶。 如果該產(chǎn)業(yè)走上這條道路，有些廠商將被迫退出平板電腦市場，因為確定哪些廠商可以生存的權力將從OEM廠商轉(zhuǎn)移到電信服務提供商手上。當然，有些廠商仍將在邊緣生存，但實力較強的廠商將必須與服務提供商結盟。蘋果在智能手機領域很好地采用了這種策略，但電信公司是否同樣承擔折價后的平板電腦的成本？ 編譯: Luffy Liu 本文授權編譯自EBN Online，版權所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文: The Other Tablets, by Bolaji Ojo

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{pagination} The Other Tablets Bolaji Ojo TweetinShare0Apple Inc. should enjoy its domination of the tablet PC market while it lasts. A flood of tablets from all kinds of manufacturers will hit the market during the 2011 holiday sales season, and many of them will be priced at a hefty discount to the iPad. The pressure that has been building on Apple, which has resorted to defending its tablet turf in German and Australian courts, is bound to intensify in the coming months. Some people say pricing will not be an effective competitive weapon against the iPad. But the recent case of the TouchPad from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) -- it sold out completely within days after a severe price cut -- indicates many buyers would gladly snap up a much cheaper device than pay $500 for the clearly market-leading product from Apple. In addition to the usual PC and smartphone vendors (Asus, Dell, HTC, Lenovo, Motorola Mobility, Research in Motion, Samsung, and Toshiba), I have seen tablets from companies not traditionally associated with the computer market on electronics retailer shelves over the last several weeks. Companies that have entered or signaled they will enter the market include Huawei, LG, Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, and ZTE. The list is stretching out. For instance, Vizio Inc. has a pretty attractive tablet stocked alongside its flat-screen television offerings at BJs in the United States. The simply dubbed "Vizio 8-inch tablet" is being marketed by the company as an entertainment device that will "keep entertainment freedom at your fingertips." The Vizio tablet offers exactly what most other tablets do -- access to the Web, TV shows, movies, music, and apps -- and is optimized to serve as a universal remote control for the ultimate couch-potato experience. It runs the Google Android operating system and retails for approximately $329, versus the $499 for the lower-end Apple iPad. Sure, it's not an iPad, as, no doubt, Apple enthusiasts will tell you. But by December, the Vizio tablet may be retailing below $300, making it an appealing purchase for parents, spouses, and even corporate entities. I might buy a product like that for my high schoolers. Then there is the much touted Amazon tablet, which is forecast to make its debut this quarter at a similarly low price point. With the Amazon name behind it, there's the promise of a tighter link with other offerings by that company, which is reportedly willing to take a loss on the device and make up the difference in other sales: books, music, video, etc. Consumers have a lot of tantalizing options to the iPad. And with the kind of offerings I expect to hit the market, consumers may not care they can't afford the iPad. My concern is not so much for consumers -- they're in good hands -- but for the OEMs making the tablets and the component suppliers supporting them. A price war hurts everyone. The kind of margins now expected on the tablet could end up shaking up the market, but not before some suppliers and OEMs suffer considerable losses. There's another solution I believe companies will start exploring soon. This is the bundled strategy that has been well tested by smartphone manufacturers and telecommunication service providers, which heavily discount products or give them away, as long as consumers were willing to sign multiyear subscription agreements. If the industry follows this pattern, not only will we see even cheaper tablets, but many of them likely will be offered free to telecom subscribers. If the industry goes in this direction, some manufacturers will be forced to exit the tablet market, because the power to determine viable players will shift from the OEMs themselves to telecom service partners. Some, of course, will still exist in the margin, but the stronger players would have to ally themselves with service providers. Apple has done reasonably well with this strategy in the smartphone segment, but will telcoms be as willing to suck up the cost of discounted tablets?