Forrester: iPad kicks off 'tablet mania'
Since Apple reported selling 3.27 million iPads in its fiscal third quarter, numerous iPad competitors have been announced. Not surprisingly, most contain the word "pad" in their name, as companies hope to cash in on Apple's success and associate their product with Apple's.In its report released last week, Forrester cited the WebOS and Windows 7 tablets from HP, the Dell Streak, the Toshiba Smart Pad, rumored tablets from Acer and Samsung, and a Lenovo entry called LePad. One that Forrester didn't mention is the rumored BlackPad from Research In Motion.In its research, Forrester notes the rapid consumer awareness of the iPad. The company said that in online surveys in May and June, awareness for the iPad has gone way up. In May, 83 percent of the more than 4,000 respondents said they've heard of the iPad. In June, that number jumped to 95 percent awareness.As a point of comparison, in the same survey 25 percent of consumers said they have never heard of the Amazon Kindle. The Kindle has been on the market for three years."This iPad interest is fueled by the social influence of its buyers, who are 20 percent more likely to use Facebook, 40 percent more likely to use Twitter, and have more friends and followers than U.S. online consumers overall," wrote Sarah Rotman Epps, the author of the report.Forrester said that 1.3 percent of people in its survey already owned an iPad and an additional 3.8 percent of people intend to buy one."The iPad has become a major consumer electronics product category--unto itself--within one single quarter," wrote Epps.
Apple promotes Jeff Williams to senior VP
Apple has updated the executive biography of Jeff Williams from vice president of operations to senior vice president of operations, explaining that the decade-plus veteran of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is "responsible for end-to-end supply chain management and dedicated to ensuring that Apple products meet the highest standards of quality."Williams, who will continue to report to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, had served as vice president of operations since 2004, and prior to that had been head of worldwide procurement. AppleInsider was the first to catch wind of the promotion. There have been no explicit signs connecting this promotion to anything surrounding a high-profile "standards of quality" issue that Apple has faced lately: reports from iPhone owners and reviewers that the iPhone 4's external antenna causes degraded reception when held a certain way. The tempest culminated in a rare press conference by CEO Steve Jobs on Friday addressing the issue. Jobs insisted "weak spots" are not unique to the iPhone 4 but that customers are entitled to a free rubber bumper accessory that would alleviate the problem.But just after the "Antennagate" fix was announced, Apple reported blowout quarterly earnings. Fueled by sales of the iPhone and iPad devices, its $15.7 billion in revenue was the highest the company has ever reported.
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