Apple’s iPad Smart Cover is a wonderful product. Not only is it pretty much the most minimal yet versatile iPad case around, it’s fun, attractive aesthetic — inspired by Japanese bath covers — hides some serious engineering beneath the surface thanks to its 30+ odd magnets.
So it’s a great product. Did you know that for Apple, though, Smart Covers alone are a $2 billion a year business?
That’s what Richard Kramer, managing director of Arete Research, said this week at the Open Mobile Summit in London.
At the summit, Kramer said: “Apple is one of the first manufacturers to move its focus away from mobile hardware, as seen with the Ipad Smart Cover.”
“The majority of iPad users own one of these flexible accessories, which brings Apple in a $500m fortune each quarter,” he added.
So here you have Apple making $2 billion a year on Smart Covers. Meanwhile, there’s the competition — the likes of LG, Sony and Motorola — who can’t maker $2 billion a year on their competing tablets.
“There’s a huge problem with differentiation for mobile device vendors, and it’s a growing concern”, Kramer said. “To us smartphones may all look different, but to the average consumer they all look like ‘fat black slabs’. The end of this ‘black slab’ trend looks set to [happen] in 2013.”
Oh really? That would certainly be nice, to see some actual competition in the game, but given the complete poverty of imagination we’ve been seeing from the competition so far, I’d be shocked.
Source: The Inquirer
