Apple 'less innovative' at laptops than Lenovo
But beats the pants off rivals when it comes to selling them
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Asus and Lenovo both offer more innovative Ultrabook-style laptops than Apple, though the Mac maker has the pair of them licked when it comes to implementing that innovation.
So says market watcher ABI Research, which reckons Apple “outscores its rivals significantly in implementation” if not in innovation. For proof, look no further than the MacBook Air’s “dominant market share”.
According to the research firm, even if Apple’s skinny laptops are not the most ground-breaking, the company “will ship almost three times as many ultraportables by end of 2012 as its nearest competitors”, among them Lenovo and Samsung, placed second and third in ABI’s list of Ultrabook vendors.
Apple came top with a score of 84.7 out of 100. Lenovo and Samsung scored, respectively, 77.5 and 74.4, ABI said. Its scores factor in assessment of a vendor’s ability to deliver innovative technology to users, and the new developments it introduces to the platform.
Behind the top three to round out ABI’s top ten Ultrabook makers are, in order, Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, LG and Sony. ABI didn’t present these vendors’ scores, or break out the leading suppliers’ separate innovation and implementation marks. You’ll have to buy an expensive report for that. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Pretty obvious really
Was it Apple that developed the screen, or the screen supplier? I presume it went like this.
Apple : We want a higher res screen at same thickness
Supplier: Er, OK, we can do the dev work on that for you, and then you buy loads - M'Kay?
Apple: ..but don't sell them to anyone else, M'Kay...
Supplier; M'Kay.
Apple : We also need a faster GPU to run the higher res screen
Supplier2 (Imagination Tech) : M'kay, we'll do the dev work on that then you buy loads, M'kay
Apple : M'kay.
So suppliers do the R&D and building, Apple, really, just gave them a spec, which I don't really regard as innovation.
Absolutely right
Asus doesn't meet the Macbook Air display specs. At 1920x1080 for the Zenbook Prime, it demolishes them.
Lifestyle choices are not innovation...
Making the machine less maintainable so that it can be prettier is not "innovation". It's a lifestyle choice and being a slave to fashion.
Apple just makes more noise about doing it. They are great at marketing and they have a willing cabal of astroturfers.

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