BUSINESS: Business Day Live | March 8, 2012

A few years ago, Apple held a remarkable competitive position in the tablet market. The company was not only was first-to-market (Apple basically invented the tablet category). Apple also had both the premium product AND the lowest price. As competitors scrambled to catch up with the iPad, most of the early competitive tablets were both worse than the iPad and more expensive. That is an extremely rare position for a company to be in. And it's no surprise that Apple basically had the tablet market to itself for a couple of years.

By Ashraf Eassa:Apple's (AAPL) MacBook Air, as well as the 10" iPad, may be coming under fire in a way that most people don't expect. I believe that the upcoming "threat" to Apple's market share in the mainstream computing space (iPad/MacBook Air price levels) can be protected, but it will require that the company take a long, hard look at the strategy that it is currently pursuing.

Business trips to Silicon Valley rarely include downtime for a day trip or long weekend, but if they do, most visitors head straight to San Francisco or Napa Valley.   But sticking with the familiar means missing out on what’s literally right over the hill. Just an hour’s drive south of Silicon Valley, you will find quaint seaside villages, miles of hiking and biking trails, and local haunts serving famous dishes.   Don Jacinto, general manager at the Joie de Vivre Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, says the area’s small-town charm is often overlooked.

The average selling price of iPads continued to fall in the first quarter, according to Apple's earnings released yesterday. That's a sign of the how competitive the tablet market has become as prices drop and cheaper mini-tablets proliferate. 

Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank delivered remarks to a full house and participated in a panel discussion at San Jose State University on driving U.S. innovation to create jobs. The panel was moderated by Carl Guardino, President and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Blank was joined by Dr. Pat Kennedy, CEO of OSISoft, Eric Kelly, President and CEO of Overland Storage  and Dr. Mohammad Qayoumi, President of San Jose State University.

Jason Schwarz submits:The upcoming Apple (AAPL) earnings report is the most anticipated in recent memory. We supposed that all eyes would be on iPad sales, leading many to believe that 2010 stock performance could track the stellar 2007 performance generated from the original iPhone launch. It looks like the first ever quarter of iPad sales will show more units sold than all other Mac units combined.

The iPad mini appears to be on track to actually outsell the iPad 4. This further corroborates my theory of margin compression at Apple. Apple released the iPad mini in response to the success of 7 inch form factor tablets running Google's Android, namely the Nexus 7, Barnes and Noble Nook HD and Amazon Kindle HD.

By Thomas Kee: By Barry S. Cohen, Stock Traders Daily