Forrester: iPad's Success Means More Tablet Competitors

In a new report from Forrester, we've got some pretty common sense revelations. The new report from Sarah Rotman Epps, suggests that while the iPad is wildly successful, that also means that plenty of new competitors are on the way. What's more, most of those competitors are trying to jump on Apple's success of the word "pad," and infusing it with their own tablet titles. We've all heard of the BlackPad, after all — and Forrester believes there will be plenty more in the future.

As we all might expect, the report cites product announcements from HP, Dell, Toshiba, Acer, and even Samsung. There's also the Lenovo entry into the market. But, while all of them don't use the "pad" name, most of them do. Research In Motion's future tablet will be called the BlackPad, and Toshiba's model will be called the Smart Pad. But, while those may all well be good in their own rights, it looks like the general public's awareness of the iPad is only growing.

In May, Forrester conducted research to find out how many people knew about the iPad. Out of 4,000 respondents to their poll, a hefty 83 percent of them came back saying that they had heard about the iPad. Now though, in a new survey conducted in June, that number jumped up to 95 percent. So, while competition is certainly on the horizon, it seems that Apple keeps staying ahead of the pack, even if it is based on brand name only. To compare the numbers, the same survey revealed that a staggering 25 percent of respondents didn't know what the Amazon Kindle is. So, while new tablets keep getting launched and announced, Apple's the name still gaining the tablet mind share. Does anyone think this will change?

[via CNET]