After seeing how things played out for Apple at the beginning of this year, some could say the company was a little bit cruel, letting others announce their products and then shattering their dreams with the iPad 2, that above all arrives in stores today, quite a few weeks/months before the tablets like HP Touchpad, Samsung Galaxy TAB 10.1 and LG Optimus Pad do. But that’s not the case, as Apple just took advantage of its 12+ months lead over the competition. Rarely we see such a triumphant victory in the IT business, but Apple did it, and by 2012 they’ll probably have an even better iPad 3 ready to keep its market share.

    That doesn’t mean anything could happen, as a market report suggests one brand can overthrow Apple, and that brand is Amazon, with its competitive pricing and a very good distribution channel. How did that report come to this conclusion? Well, it’s not that clear, but the base of the study was the following question: “If you were shopping for a tablet, what features would be important to you?“. Guess what are the top three answers! Of course it all comes down to price, battery life and operating system.

    Price is important for tablets

    Price is important for tablets

    This means one thing: people do care about price (as I’ve stated yesterday) and they care a lot about that, being willing to pay around 257$ in average for a tablet, down from 504$ in June 2010, the time when iPad was your only option. And in this equation the only viable brand that can tackle Apple is Amazon. That doesn’t mean Amazon is working on a Super Kindle tablet, but they might, especially since the new Apple in-app subscription model isn’t winning any awards, due to its 70/30 revenue split. Personally, I would buy an Amazon tablet, as I trust this brand, just like a lot of people do, but only if the price is right.