An analyst with Deutsche Bank believes the next-generation iPad will drop in at a favorable point for Apple, as rivals scramble to release products that don’t even remotely compete with the iPad.
Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore
expects the third-generation iPad to arrive in March. Although many analysts agree, you don’t need Wall Street to tell you when the next product refresh from Apple will occur.
Assuming that Apple will launch its third iPad in spring, this year's refresh will have the perfect “window of opportunity”, according to Whitmore.
In his note to clients issued today, he says that none of the so-called iPad competitors introduced in the last 12 months can do much to hurt Apple’s market-share.
He calls these products "me-too" offerings that differ very little from one another.
Whitmore does stress that only the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Asus' Transformer Prime are somewhat "relevant" rivals. Amazon's Kindle Fire also fails to live up to the task, he believes.
"Win8 based hardware is unlikely to ramp in earnest until 2013," he wrote. "This leaves the window wide open for Apple to extend its lead in the market and drive substantial growth and profits going forward," Whitmore said.
Whitmore expects the iPad 3 to ship with a high-resolution display, a quad-core chip, four-times the graphics performance of the current tablets, and the Siri personal assistant.
This product will simply blow away competition, Whitmore said.
"With other tablet vendors in disarray (shifting from Android to Win8), we expect the iPad 3 introduction to drive additional share gains in the mobile computer market," he said.
He added that Apple was currently experiencing "phenomenal product momentum". Deutsche Bank has a "buy" rating on Apple, with a price target of $600 on the company’s stock.
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