APad, iPed – Here Come the Knock Offs!

Two months, it didn’t take long, only two months. The iPad knock offs are here. They look like an iPad, they are packaged a lot like an iPad but look a little closer and you can see the differences. The video below is in Japanese, but you get the idea from the images alone. These iPad like tablets are running the Android operating system on intel chips with inferior hardware at drastically reduced prices. Even though Apple’s iPad isn’t even on sale yet in China, you can buy a knock off for as low as AU$126, almost a fifth of the cost of an iPad in Australia.

Are they worth it? Don’t count on it. Watch the demonstrations in the video, the user interface is clunky and seems to have really slow response time.

The only thought I had over this was, if the knock offs can hit the shelf so fast, why is it taking so long for other, more mainstream, companies to build and sell competing products. Surely with the resources available to companies like HP, Dell and Sony (amongst many others) they should already have Android based tablets on the market. I know a whole bunch are being demoed this month at various trade shows but why does it take them so long to get these products out to compete with Apple, surely Bill Gates proved in the 90’s that the product didn’t have to be better than Apple’s to beat them in market share, just cheaper. Let’s face it, Windows 3.1 was not a better operating system than Apple’s OS, quality did not win the OS war.

I don’t know about you but I think I’ll keep saving and buy a genuine iPad.

So what do you think, want an iPed or APad? Or would you rather send the extra and get a genuine thing? Comments below.

Source: News.com.au