Apple's sweetheart parts deals a key reason for iPad's domination

Apple certainly has lots of buzz and corporate cache behind its products, but there's a hidden -- almost mundane -- reason its newest iPad is likely to dominate the competition: the advantageous deals the company cuts with components manufacturers.

Apple's size, and the fact that the iPad shares components with the highly popular iPhone, means that the Cupertino company can buy crucial parts such as processing chips and display screens at lower prices. Any company that wants to make a tablet computer that matches the iPad's $499 starting price has to endure higher costs. As a result, Apple's tablet-making competitors have flailed -- and failed. And with the new iPad, Apple is expected to extend its 62 percent market share in the tablet computer category it created. IMS Research expects Apple to capture 70 percent of the market this year.