Weak Android, Windows competition keeps iPad on top… According to Analysts

Apple's new iPad will only face "benign" competition from Windows and Android products, according to a Deutsche Bank analyst research note. "Top 10 Reasons for Apple's rally other than the upcoming iPad announcement"--referring to Apple's rising stock price--analyst cited continued Apple tablet dominance "due to relatively benign competition from [Android] tablets and our concerns of a slow ramp of Windows tablets." Deutsche Bank rates Apple a "Buy" with a price target of $600. The slow ramp of Windows 8 tablets is a theme other analysts have latched onto.

Analysis shows that on average iPad and iPhone product announcements in themselves don't have a meaningful, lasting impact on Apple's stock price." And listed reasons, other than the upcoming rollout of the new iPad, for Apple's strength.

Reasons for Apple's stock price rise, according Deutsche Bank, include: 

·         No iPhone killer: A quiet Mobile World Congress; lack of a new 'iPhone killer'

·         Windows 8 tablets: Win8 tablets have "some inter-operability issues."

·         Hewlett-Packard weakness: Weak results from rival HP. 

·         Corporate customers: iPhone and iPad momentum in the enterprise. 

·         New MacBooks: new MacBook Pro and Air upgrades coming. 

·         Apple TV: Apple's foray into the TV market. 

Other reasons cited include "strong and growing iOS developer ecosystem," that "500K+ apps in the App Store (140K apps are iPad specific) and 25B downloads (vs. ~340K Android and ~10B downloads)."