Journal 3 - Cirque du Soleil and Ipads

In our recent class discussions, we talked about how Cirque du Soleil was able to be successful by bridging the gap between the traditional circus and more sophisticated forms of entertainment, such as the theater or opera. In doing so, they created (or found) a unique new space in the entertainment market.

Apple has done something similar with the Ipad. The Ipad has bridged the gap between laptops/netbooks and touch screen smartphones. In doing so, they have created new space in the personal computing market.

In the following table, I make a comparison between some of the relevant characteristics that the three different groups share. As you can see, the Ipad strikes a balance between laptop and smartphone extremes.

	Laptop/Netbook	Smartphone	Ipad
Graphics	High	Low	Medium
Portability	Low	High	Medium
3G Network	Low	High	High
Software/Apps	High	Low	Medium
Touch Screen	Low	High	High

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132643125168876.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_read