Goldman Sachs: iPad's Formula for Success Dooms Laptops

An analyst report from Goldman Sachs predicts that the iPad will continue to sell like gangbusters, putting the hurt on other small computers and ushering in more tablet-style devices.

According to a blog from the British publication Financial Times, the bank "reckons that tablet thingies like [the iPad] will eventually cannibalise the market for (and makers of) netbooks and laptops."

Research has already shown that the iPad has eaten into mini-computer sales by a third. Its popularity has influenced consumer behavior, too, with three-quarters of consumers saying they plan to buy a tablet or e-reader in the next three years.

Goldman Sachs attributes the iPad's success to the "five Cs" of user experience. In the case of Consumption, for example, Apple has designed the iPad – which is essentially "just a big screen" – to consume information rather than produce it via a physical keyboard and other traditional computer arrangements .

By staying Connected to the Internet courtesy of built-in Wi-Fi and 3G service, the iPad makes sources of such information and Content (another C) easily available. In Goldman's estimation, Apple was wise to directly link the iPad and its other products to the smorgasbord of multimedia and programs that is iTunes and the App Store.

Another key reason the iPad looks likely to devour other small computers: At 10 hours, it has two to five times their battery life, ensuring "always on" capability. Plus, the iPad turns on immediately per users' demand versus the occasional full minute laptops might need just to rouse themselves from sleep mode. Goldman dubbed this attractive feature "Constant operation."

The final C – and perhaps the one most in Goldman's wheelhouse – is Commerce, which refers to the streamlined buying in iTunes. "By streamlining the purchase and delivery experience to a single click for nearly all types of content [in iTunes], users are always “ready to buy,” and are able to act on their impulse to buy much more directly than if they were required to input credit and billing information with every transaction."

With well over 200,000 apps available and new, smaller 5.6- and seven-inch screen, next-generation iPads slated for as soon as winter, Apple looks set to continue its tablet dominance.

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