[Info-vax] AltaVista background information

[JF Mezei]

Bill Gunshannon wrote:

> I went to Germany for a military exercise with the Army Reserve back
> in 2007 (a good three years before the iPad) and all of our "observers"
> had tablets that pretty much did all that the iPad does today.  Yes,
> apple invented the iPad, but again, it was a marketing coup, not a tech
> coup.  


Apple built hype/rumours over a couple of years about a tablet. During
this time Wall Street Casino analysts pondered on whether there would be
a market for such a device and noted that multiple attempts before had
failed to gain market traction.

The military can afford to have what it wants and if the market doesn't
offer it, it can afford to have stuff custom made.  ut the fact that
they had tablets does not mean that a mass market existed.

What Apple did was find the right formula for the hardware, software and
marketing to not only create a mass market for it, but build something
that people actually use and become dependent on.

This isn't like some christmas toy that you paly with for a week and
lose interest in.

Where Apple innovates is in finding the right type of hardware and
gizmos to incorporate in its products. Putting gyro sensors for instance
allows the iPad to be used to play games where you can just move the
device itself. I bet the military tablets didn't have that. It is little
things like that which, when put together, created a platform with
enough uses to build market demand.