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'iPad' just a synonym for 'Tablet'? | 201 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
I get the same thing with my Kindle DX and Adam
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, August 14 2012 @ 02:54 PM EDT
Even though the Kindle has a keyboard and buttons on the edge (and a much wider
bezel)

I also get the same thing with my Notion Ink Adam tablet, which looks wildly
different.

There is a large part of the population that assumes that any tablet is an ipad

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Post-sale confusion? Yes. Damage? To the contrary!
Authored by: briand on Tuesday, August 14 2012 @ 03:38 PM EDT
Actually, I think this _demonstrates_ the damage (real or potential) of
confusingly similar appearances to different products.

In any new market, or
growth market, one strong growth driver is word-of-
mouth, either among
friends/acquaintances, or among strangers.

Every time someone mis-recognizes a
device, if they were interested in the
"original" (e.g. because of
advertising), and then had first-hand experience
with a competitor's device,
this is possibly a lost sale.

If the uniqueness/differentiation (where product
A and product B had just
enough in terms of distinctive visible features) were
present, then the "soft
sale" that results from a potential customer
approaching a current owner,
would be less likely to be diverted (presuming the
potential customer had a
positive experience.)

And, similarly, if there is a
measurable difference in the customer experience,
or more specifically the
initial experience of a potential customer, when using
product B (versus
product A), that could also result in lost sales, when the
potential customer
decides not to buy either product.

This is possible regardless of the intent of
the manufacturer of "B". It is
possible that "B" was engineered to be a quality
product, and for whatever
reason ended up being too similar to product "A". It
is also possible that "B"
was deliberately engineered only to be a cheap
knock-off of "A".

The protections against the latter, IMHO, must necessarily
apply to the former
as well, otherwise the protections themselves get
weakened.

If Samsung really were not banking on even a small portion of the
market
being influenced by the "Apple" trendiness, then having a very visibly
distinctive, non-functional-impacting differentiator would have been
advisable.

Absent that visual cue, one could conclude that Samsung customers
want
strangers, friends, etc., to think they have an iPad, and that itself is
influencing sales in a manner adversely affecting Apple.

If a non-label is a
distinctive "feature", is the absence of a label a protected
design element, if
the first design, market leader, and heaviest advertiser
prominently shows
their product's lack of label?

Either way, if trade dress is protectable, this
is an important case.

briand - who would like an iPad for his birthday

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

I have a Touchpad, but I hear Touchpad more than iPad where I live!
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, August 14 2012 @ 03:51 PM EDT
Especially after the Fire Sale! .....but that's probably
because I have a HP Case and if it's not in it, It's easy to
read on the back. I'm also just as inclined to think Touchpad
is a lot more iconic in that it denotes a touchscreen. iPad???
huh... forgive for bringing up the jokes, but Apple iPad got
pounded with feminine hygiene product puns!

Another point is 'I' am really getting sick of the i
Everything stuff!

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Lots of confusion... especially for those who don't pay attention.
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, August 14 2012 @ 04:22 PM EDT
My father-in-law has an iPad; my wife has a Nook Color (rooted).

He asks, "Hey - that thing you have on your iPad - can my iPad do
that?" (usually, it's an app I wrote)

Wife says, "No."

He asks, "Why not?"

Wife says, "Because yours is an iPad."

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

One reason for iPad high dominance
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, August 14 2012 @ 08:52 PM EDT
It seems that people have come to use the term iPad
interchangeably with tablet. So, when they go to store and
asked to see the I pads (meaning tablets) they get shown only
the iPads especially since they are normally in a separate
location/display.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Post-sale confusion? Yes. Damage? To the contrary!
Authored by: Tufty on Tuesday, August 14 2012 @ 09:53 PM EDT
Well, I guess the iWhatever has been hoovered up. Perhaps they should have spent
more time googling rather than trying to put in back in the fridge. Someone will
be wiping their eyes with a kleenex before this is over.

---
Linux powered squirrel.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

'iPad' just a synonym for 'Tablet'?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, August 15 2012 @ 02:32 AM EDT
It could be that those people use the word 'iPad' in place of 'tablet' without
any thought of the Apple tablet called 'iPad' - like when people talk about a
'PC' being a personal computer with a Microsoft Windows operating installed on
it.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Post-sale confusion? Yes. Damage? To the contrary!
Authored by: calris74 on Friday, August 17 2012 @ 12:58 AM EDT
LOL - In my house the 'post sale confusion' revolves around
my TouchPad. It was the first tablet we owned, and my 4yo
daughter loves playing on it (it's loaded with CyanogenMod
Android instead of WebOS). So when I got my wife an Acer
Iconia, it's been continually referred to as 'Mummy's
TouchPad'. And now my daughter has her own iPad, it gets
referred to as a TouchPad (although sometimes caught mid-
word and corrected to iPad).

Now each of these tablets is rectangular with rounded
corners, but no one in our house ever picks up one mistaking
it for another (not even my 2yo son)

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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