The scheduled April 3rd release of Apple’s iPad will, undoubtedly, usher in a new era for mobile marketing. With a revolutionary platform that seems destined to impact the ways in which we read, play games, and absorb myriad forms of content, the iPad and its potential are the new central focus of many opportunistic mobile marketers angling to hitch their wagons to the iPad’s star.
But according to ARM Holdings, an industry leading semiconductor intellectual property (IP) supplier, as many as fifty new iPad-like tablet devices could reach the marketplace within the next twelve to twenty-four months. And while the iPad will likely dominate the thriving tablet business, mobile marketers are being cautioned against putting all their eggs in one basket.
According to Roy Chen, Arm’s worldwide mobile computing ODM manager, the burgeoning tablet market could be flooded with a new wave of devices designed to compete with Apple’s long-awaited iPad. The forthcoming deluge of tablets is the reason that Arm, a prominent name in the mobile microprocessor business, has had to “rent more space at the Computex electronics trade show in Taipei this year.” An enormous amount of space will be necessary, says Chen, to accommodate the plethora of e-readers, mini-laptops and iPad knock-offs that will utilize Arm processing cores.
“The first tablet devices will launch in the second quarter by mobile network carriers,” says Chen. “You’ll see a lot more in the third quarter.”
While the appetite for tablets and e-Readers has never been stronger, the demand for digital content – particularly mobile apps customized for tablet devices – is even stronger. And with a veritable smorgasbord of new devices poised to rock the digital landscape in the next twelve to twenty-four-month period, mobile marketers are wise to think outside the iPad’s box and take inventory of the opportunities bestowed by the industry itself, not just the most dominate presence within the industry.