Certain Habits

With the announcement of the Apple iPad in February and its launch yesterday, the industry’s copying machines have been busy. Apple competitors are preparing to launch an army of iPad imitators, clones, and ugly step children.

• Samsung announces tablet computer to compete with Apple’s iPad.” What will that be like? It “was ‘too early’ [for company executives] to give more details of the company’s plans.” Right.

• Dell announces their tablet. Due in several months. Wired states the obvious in their, per the usual, excellent coverage:

  Say the words “tablet computer” and ten bucks says it’s Apple’s iPad that springs to mind. But that doesn’t mean other companies aren’t busy building their own version of a touch-enabled, multimedia-sporting, slab of portable computing goodness.

  Dell’s first effort at a tablet will be the Mini 5 (a name that is still in beta) — a slice of plastic and glass with a 5-inch capacitive touchscreen that according to Michael Dell will debut “in a couple of months.”

• HP, according to the New York Times, is “riled up” that Apple is setting expectations for tablets.

  H.P.’s machine, he said, is “a full experience, touch-optimized for Windows 7. And we will have very exciting and compelling content on the device.”

  The “full experience” seems to be the major takeaway from that statement. H.P. is saying that it has boiled down a proper computer into the slate form and then given it some add-ons like touch and specially formatted content. Meanwhile, the iPad is an iPhone on steroids that comes with a host of limitations.

  So the early advertising wars make sense — sort of. H.P. thinks it has a much more powerful slate and it is surely irked that Apple is setting consumer expectations for the look and price of such devices.

  And if they were done two years ago with their product design, they have no one to blame but themselves.

• Not to be outdone, netbook maker Asus plans two tablets, one running Windows, one running a modified version of Google’s Android OS. As Jonney Shih, Asus Chairman, told Fortune:

  The flexible approach will differentiate Asus’ products, noted Shih. “There will be an Apple camp [in tablets], but Asus always tries to address the open camps of Google and Microsoft,” he said. Like the iPad, however, Asus’ tablets will emphasize multimedia capability. “Content will play a very important role on tablets,” said Shih. “The Google tablet will have a lot of media.”

Every time Apple releases a new product, someone online does a tear down analysis. And while the iPad does have some custom hardware (namely it’s powerful, power-miserly chip, the proprietary A4), most of it is readily purchased at scale in the global electronics marketplace. For all intents and purposes, the hardware can be engineered and built if you have the desire and capital to do so.

What sets Apple apart, and makes it one of the world’s most profitable companies, is the combination of software and hardware and design ethos that creates astounding user experiences. It’s competitors lack the same commitment to simple, easy to use interfaces, its attention to detail, and its discipline in execution.

Anyone willing to bet that competitor tablets will be any more successful than competitor MP3 players have been? I didn’t think so. Early returns are in on JooJoo, whose tablet has been in the market for about a month. According to Wired, 50 people pre-ordered the JooJoo tablet … and 15 of them returned the device.