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Ice Cream Sandwich will not save Android tablets
- By Ray Walters on October 19, 2011 at 1:33 pm
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There was a glaring omission at the Samsung/Google event last night: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) was not shown on a tablet device. This omission was purposeful, because ICS will not thrust Android-powered tablets into a head-to-head competition with the iPad, and because we have seen ICS on tablets already. One could name this latest release Honeycomb 2.0 for tablet devices. Apple is not afraid of the what was announced last night, nor is it even paying attention when it comes to the iPad 2 losing market share.
The simple fact of the matter is that the iPad completely dominates the tablet market. Android is not even a blip on the radar when it comes to this market segment. The iPad 2 is predicted to outsell Android based tablets by a ratio of almost 10 to 1. Andy Rubin, head of Google's mobile division, made a statement this morning that there are roughly 6 million Android tablets in the wild. While that number sounds large, projections are putting Cupertino's second version of it's iPad at 65 million sold in 2011 alone. Android may be dominating the smartphone market in sales (and that is due to sheer numbers of devices, not due to market demand), but it is certainly not controlling any theater in the tablet wars.
There are many reasons why tablets running the Android OS have flopped: Pricing, lack of applications made for Honeycomb, and market saturation. Verizon and Motorola ruined the best chance at competing with Apple when they launched the horrendously- priced Xoom. At $899, it was ridiculous to think that consumers were going to flock to Verizon stores to pick one up. Pay that much for a tablet then tack on a pricey data plan on top of that? Complete insanity. Sure, fanboys and Android geeks went and bought it because it was the first viable Android tablet hardware that could actually do something. Everyday consumers were putting a Xoom next to an iPad and shaking their heads at the fact that the iPad was a known product, whereas the Xoom was this archaic piece of tech that cost more than a souped up desktop computer! Who can blame them? A huge opportunity was lost to come out of the gate with the iPad clearly in the sights as far as competition was concerned. Every Android manufacturer would benefit! Come out with a strong initial showing that really gives the normal consumer an alternative to the iPad, and you have a ballgame. So disappointing.
On the other end of the spectrum, because Android is open, companies are free to create no-name devices with the OS slapped onto them, then shipped for rock-bottom prices. When a consumer sees a tablet at Walgreens for $99, it is going to create doubt in their mind of the veracity of the product. This erodes consumer confidence since they assume these low-priced tablets are an iPad knock-offs, and in the long run these poor excuses for hardware hurt the Android brand recognition as people place relate it to junk toys rather than serious hardware.
Michael Dell, really?
The failure of Android tablet sales is being noticed by major players in the electronics industry as well. Michael Dell, of Dell computers, recently reversed his controversial statement saying that Apple should close up shop due to the fact that Android was going to blow it out of the water in the tablet market. At Dell World 2011 he stated that his company is now looking to Windows to help grow profit share, since sales of Android devices have not been up to expectations. He now likens Android to "another opportunity," and has obviously lost confidence in Android's ability to move specialty products produced by Dell. This is a strong indicator of the state of affairs and perception for Android-based tablets.
The lack of a presentation of ICS running on a tablet device during last night's announcement was troubling in the fact that Google has hyped this release as a major step in unifying the platform. If this is the case, why not show it off alongside the Galaxy Nexus? Why not come come out all guns blazing, showing potential developers that Google means business when it comes to resolving the problems that plague its mobile platform? The reason is not known of course, but it sends a negative signal to consumers and developers alike that there was no tablet to be seen last night.
Honeycomb 2.0
The reason why there was no announcement, and ultimately why ICS will not boost Android tablet sales, is that on a tablet device it is simply Honeycomb 2.0. It brings the feature set that Google placed on tablet devices six months ago, and adds some new hotness with Face Unlock, panoramic pictures, and an updated font. There are more additions of course, but the fact remains that tablet users have already seen much of ICS before: it is already in their hands. Why rush out to buy another tablet that will ship with 4.0? Especially when the Android developer community will most likely create custom ROMs that can be installed on the tablet they already own.
No, Apple has a firm grip on the tablet market that will not be relinquished anytime soon. There simply are simply no strong competitors out there at the moment — except perhaps for the Kindle Fire, which could do very well indeed, but can the two be compared? The iPad 2 exudes pure sexiness, it is the device to have and be seen with. Holiday sales are almost guaranteed for retailers that stock the iPad. The hype surrounding anything that Cupertino releases is huge. One does not hear that kind of energy in the general public around Android; it is sadly relegated to people who are intimately involved with the platform, and that is a relatively small circle when comparing it to the Apple customer base.
Google should be celebrating the fact that 4.0 is going to sell more handsets — there are some great features that consumers are going to want, for sure — but on the other hand, it should be mourning the fact that it is losing the tablet wars, and badly. Android consumers and fans alike should be shouting at Mountain View to get on the ball and get serious about tablet devices, because until that happens, it is going to be a black turtleneck-driven world in the land of tablet electronics.
Check out our Ice Cream Sandwich explainer, or read about the Galaxy Nexus
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I read so many of these types of articles in 09′ saying Android phones couldn't survive vs. iOS.
Give Android tablets a chance, eh? They've been out for a year. Give them at least another year before you decide that they 'cant be saved'.
One of the top reasons folks stayed away from tablets is (you even mention this in the article) they didn't want the non-optimized experience ie: 2.2/2.3 on the tablet [rampant in Q4 2010, gtablet, archos 9/101, etc] and many didn't like Honeycomb either, which is supposed to be the optimized experience [most official tablets sold between mar 2011 and now], since it lacks many native apps and many non-op apps don't look as nice. ICS will alleviate all of this by creating a single experience. A single experience = more apps for tablet users.
ICS may not save tablets but it's going to give them a helluva' chance and who knows, in another year maybe they won't even need saving.
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
Hear hear!
My main concern is that I don't think the tablet market is as large as people think it is. I think it revolves around the iPad, rather than people needing some kind of tablet computing form factor.
I worry that no matter how good ICS is on the tablet, people will still just want an iPad.
I also think that in a few years the tablet market may simply cease to exist — or at least tablets as they appear now. I think it'll be just smartphones + perhaps slate PCs (Windows 8 tablets).
I agree that people will want an iPad….but I disagree that tablets will cease to exist or that the market revolves around the iPad vs. the form factor, I think people will still want their tablet as well, especially folks that own the Android smartphone.
The tablet is the natural evolution beyond the smartphone. I still use my notebook, but I use my tablet a whole lot as well. The singular problem with tablets right now was fragmentation, and that will be done with ICS and beyond. I say wait a while to see what happens.
I also see Windows 8 giving Android a run for its money if done right.
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
Ah, that's where we differ — I think the smartphone (pocketable) form factor will win out over the tablet :)
Gonna be an interesting few years, anyway!
http://twitter.com/jayuhdinger jay uhdinger
Sebastian do you own a tablet? I thought the same before having my galaxy tab (the old 7 inch one). I really love it and it gets a lot of things done my phone SGS II doesn't get done as well. It is a nice browsing device and ebook reader.
Anyway, I'm with Neoprimal that Android will win this in the long run. So far the Android tablet was pretty underwhelming or not properly priced. This will change and having the same OS on multiple devices is awesome. Buy the app once put it on all your devices. Sweet!
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
I do own a tablet! I bought an iPad 2 when it was released, because I figured a technology writer should probably own the gadgets that he writes about.
I don't really use it, though. I try to, but… I just haven't found a use case for it. I'm sure it's because I spend so many hours in front of my multi-monitor desktop setup, though.
If I actually had a lounge that I retired to in the evenings…
Sebastian, I implore you to get your hands on perhaps the Asus Transformer or Acer Iconia A500 (this is what I have) Both are cheap enough right now and get updated quickly.
Play with it, use it, get used to it, and then let me know what you think of it in comparison to an iPad 2. I had an iPad 2 and I sold it a month later and picked up the Iconia instead. The iPad 2 is a great device with smooth animations but I missed all the functionality of my widgets on my Android phone and essentially I wanted a tablet to be a big smartphone. In my home I use it for practically everything. While I'm watching TV I'll hop on it to read facebook, google+ or news, look up TV schedules, an actor/actress or general stuff about a show I'm interested in – hard to explain but I do it. I use it in the kitchen to get adventurous with new recipes or listen to music. I use it in the bathroom (nuff said, lol), I use it while in bed to peruse stuff (zinio, books, etc.) or watch Netflix or put some relaxing music on before I fall asleep. I use it as my bedside alarm (an app called gentle alarm). Now, the iPad can do all of this so if you don't have the disposable money to spend on an Android alternative – maybe I've given you some ideas on what you could use your iPad 2 for.I have grown absolutely dependent on widgets as they are a nice bonus, not having to actually launch an app is neat and one of the things the Android tablet has I would say over the iPad is that you have optional sources for Apps and that as of ICS, officially 1 purchased app will work on both the smartphone AND the tablet.Having additional app sources is a great thing though. Amazon, as an example, releases a free app daily and getjar has a bunch as well. These are paid apps that are free (not sponsored or containing adware). Between both stores I've spent about a total of $13 on apps, the rest are either free or actual paid apps I get for free. I've collected roughly 108 on Amazon so far and about 10 on Getjar. You don't get those kinds of breaks on iOS apps.
http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal
There are a couple interesting points in this thread that often get confused. First, I love my gTab and have well over 100 apps on it and have put just about every geeked out ROM possible on it looking for the best experience. And its a pretty lame tablet by current standards. So cool. But, then even with the Galaxy, Transformer & Iconia sales of Android tablets haven't been holding a candle to iPad (as much as I wish otherwise!). So the question isn't whether we geeks think Android is cool, but what will change the dyanmic to greatly increase sales of Android tablets. The original article by Ray makes the claim that ICS isn't it. I tend to agree, as for tablets it looks like it will be pretty close to HC.
BUT there is also an assumption in this thread that having your tablet be the same OS as your phone is helpful. It IS. I can sync my Pulse news sources, my app licenses, my user data, etc. with my Captivate and my Aria because they share a common system. Cool. However this has worked against Android so far because of the monster success of the iPhone eco-system.
SO what might change is that if ICS and future developments give Android a real serious lead in mindshare as well as marketshare in smartphones (today Android can be said to lead in total numbers, but clearly iPhone has some serious mindshare mojo), then perhaps the success of Android smartphones will be what drags along the Android tablets — especially if the issues with designs like the Atrix get worked out and the phone and tablet become more or less one extended device.
You sir, hit the nail on the head.
If ICS truly manages to unify the Android market and work well on tablets (better than HC at least), I think the "mindshare" will change as well and Android tablets will catch right up at the very least to iPads in terms of marketshare – just as Android smartphones did.
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
I have Gentle Alarm on my Nexus S :)
The main problem is that I really don't leave my computers — and when I do, the last thing I want to do is look at an emissive screen. I spend about an hour a day _not_ looking at computers, and that time is usually filled with reading on my Kindle!
I'm not sure if you're aware of my history, but at my previous site — Download Squad — I wrote a loooot of Android-related stuff. I am fairly sharp on just about anything software-related. I don't need to be convinced of the awesomeness of Android devices (and as I've said, I prefer Android to iOS).
When I was 30 I could read the pin numbers on an Rs232 connector.
When I was 40 I could read the print out of an Amstrad Fax machine.When I was 50 I could still read a WAP browser.Now at 62 I cant even find the Desire let alone read the screen without glasses!Hurray for big screens and big buttons.
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
Well, that's an interface thing :)
I love my Kindle because I can make the text LARGE! That's actually the reason I got one — I hated having to hold my books three inches from my face when I was reading in bed.
http://twitter.com/geraldjax geraldjax
in a way it reminds me of the ipod market. there were always tons of devices out there but the ipod was what the majority wanted. As soon as apple captured mindshare, every other pmp was dead. it's almost thesame thing that's happening in the tablet market. Show anybody a tablet and they ask: "what kind of iPad is that?"
We'll see. What diff does it make if Android has marketshare when
1) Apple gets 66% of the money.
2) the iOS devs make far more money
3) iPhone is still,despite Android, seen as the Gold Standard for phones. When the Droid Razr was announced, the CEO didn't talk about the Samsung Galaxy II or any other android phone.
4) Apple sales are dominated the world. A bad day for Apple is missing analyst expectations, surpassing their own, and having a year with $108b in sales.
And now, they are getting in the cheap phones.
In 2010, we heard how the iPad would be buried next year under the horde of Android, Playbooks and Touchpads. Will people keep predicting out a year at time until something, anything happens?
Apple is raking in money, they aren't necessarily dominating in sales. 2 different things right there. The iPad is doing very well in the market, as well as the iPhone did – but Android surpassed the iPhone eventually. That may or may not happen for the iPad, we'll see is all I'm saying. The iPad/iPad 2 are dominant right now but we're only a year into tablets as another form factor. When Android came in 2008, it took almost 2 years to be competitive with the iPhone and then Android steadily increased marketshare.
iPhone/iOS is seen as a gold standard because in terms of a singular brand, it does extremely well vs. other brands. It is quite simply THE best selling brand of smartphones and now, tablets. But at the end of the day what we're seeing is a reflection of Apple marketshare across the board, an expression of brand loyalty at its most intense. What you have are Apple owners and fans buying into Apple products exclusively vs. non-Apple fans buying into a variety of brands otherwise. I am brand agnostic so tomorrow I could easily decide to buy an iPad 2 or iPhone4S. This is typical of most brand agnostic folks, we like what we like. Apple loyalists which exist on a much larger scale will only buy Apple products. I may buy a Sony PC today and a HP notebook. Apple loyalists will only buy an iMac and Macbook.
The profit Apple makes currently isn't based on market dominance per se, it's based on the fact that no other manufacturer would be able to successfully push as many smartphones or tablets INITIALLY as Apple does and at the prices Apple does it at because no other brand enjoys that level, type or sort of loyalty. The iPhone2G was what, $500-600 on release and look how many folks purchased it? The iPad was 699 or 799 initially and again, millions purchased it. But we can easily assume that these folks consist mainly of Apple loyalists who don't necessarily have a choice of anything else. It's Apple or nothing because only Apple computers and devices offer up MacOS or iOS and after everything, we're in this for the software.
The thing is that eventually this wanes and while Apple will still enjoy massive profit due to their cost-to-manufacture and price markup, not to mention app royalties, etc, the marketshare will slowly normalize into what is typical for Apple which is generally on the lower scale.
http://twitter.com/jayuhdinger jay uhdinger
Apple simply knows how to milk their customers well. One of the reasons I stay away from Apple products. I simply prefer freedom & choice and not one company that provides (and charges) me for everything with one upgrade option a year.
How many times do you upgrade? Sounds like you are the one being milked?
I'd rather one one good choice than dozens of mediocre ones, personally. I keep hearing about the free and openness but what do you have that I do not?
Worse case, I can jailbreak. Regardless, I have access to the best selection of content, apps and ecosystem. If it is worth doing, it is done on the iOS first. If that is milking, have a big drink.
http://twitter.com/toriverw Tor Iver Wilhelmsen
What do you think of as "milking" here? "Charge for everything" in what sense? Are you of the 90% of Android users who happily pirate apps, thus ensuring no serious developers will target it?
Yes, they have a yearly cycle for their products, do you think they should make more products faster and thus compete with themselves? Has that strategy helped e.g. Nokia, where you are wary of buying a new phone from them because you know they will launch even newer ones in three to six months? It's not like my 3GS stopped working when the iPhone 4 came out…
First, we are more than a year. We are more than a year into the iPad's reign. And despite the predictions from last year, iPad still reigns. And this, I think, won't change. BOGO and subsidies cannot and will not save Android tablets for no one will offer them. The telecoms were willing to subsidize phones because of the long term contracts. Guess what isn't happening in the tablet market?
Next, app is dominating money and sales both in the tablet world and phone world. Why do I say that? Because they sell all the units they make. They cannot make them fast enough. With the exception of the Q4 drop due to the iPhone 4S, Apple achieved quarter over quarter increases in phones outselling any Android maker. And that was with the iPhone 4. The 3GS was the number two phone at AT&T after the iPhone 4. When you sell all of your stuff and make 2/3s of the money, that all the domination you need.
I and plenty of people I know buy both. I am a software dev who does mostly java and I still have an iPhone. My main PC is a Win7 x64 box. I know others who use a variety of stuff. We are the norm. Apple has *long* since moved from Apple-only to mainstream people and that's why they are dominating so completely.
The profit Apple makes is because they are the most efficient at what they do. They have a small number of products that reuse an incredible amount of components. These products are so popular that Apple puts in orders in the millions for one type of component getting huge volume discounts. In addition, the iPad, sir was $499 initially: the 16gb Wifi version.You are *way* off the mark. And that is hard because that price was mentioned EVERYWHERE as everyone thought it would be a grand.
No offense but if you got such a basic fact wrong how can you trust anything you think?
I didn't say we were a year into the iPads 'reign', I said that we are a year into being able to buy Android tablets. The first Android tablets came in roughly Sep-Oct of 2010 and it started with tablets which were not at all optimized for Android.
Apple outsells Android per brand – I believe I mentioned this. But in the scheme of things, this simply shows that people like iOS. It's not necessarily a testament of Apple's brand power. If Apple licensed iOS to other manufacturers/vendors like Samsung, HTC, etc. and it still was on top, THEN we could say something. As it is, all this proves is that people want iOS, just as the market share of MacOS proves that there's at least 10% of the global market of PC owners/users that absolutely prefer MacOS.
I agree that making 2/3s of the money is great. And this is why I also say that Apple doesn't necessarily need market share, that's why they do things the way they do it. They are a rigidly closed ecosystem because Apple's #1 fear is that folks go elsewhere to buy their product. Apple licenses nothing. And as of just a few years ago, Apple computers needed components specifically tailored for them and these components were also generally more expensive regardless of providing the same feature as their PC counterpart. This is their mantra, in other words and they have successfully kept that philosophy.
I know plenty folks who buy both as well. Know who else I know? Plenty people who buy only 1 brand – know who they are? Yep! Apple fans. And yes, Apple HAS somewhat moved from the Apple mainstream, but this isn't why they dominate at all. They are dominant because they still have an Apple mainstream. Again, this was a part of my point. There is rarely found, a PC "mainstream". Someone could buy a PC and then turn around and buy an iPad and iPhone. Sure, someone could also own an iMac and maybe turn around and buy an Android, but this is very rare. Of just the very small sampling of my friends, those who buy Mac buy pretty much everything Mac. Mac computer, Mac laptop, iPad, iPhone, etc. My friends that mix it up are completely random. And I do have a few friends who are Windows enthusiasts, but care not about Windows Phone. So the point I'm trying to make is that Apple's loyal following are the ones allowing them to push the envelope in terms of breaking records due to sales.
Your whole idea on how or why Apple makes profit doesn't hold water. Volume discounts? Nah. Their products are simply priced higher than others. You can grab 2 similarly or better speced Dell (as an example) laptops as 1 Macbook Pro. This is the power of the brand that Apple has. And Apple as well as Apple fans tend to have this fallacy that Windows laptops which are going for 6/700 are garbage, etc. but no, not so. The very same guts with a different wrapper. THAT is how Apple makes money.
The iPad wifi was 499 initially. I was speaking specifically in terms of the iPad 3G sold from ATT as a comparison model of initial iPads. These were $629 and up. So no, I wasn't wrong I was just focusing on a different model. I did so because at the time we didn't have mobile hotspots in our phones and people wanted an iPad they could use out and about regardless of there being wifi or not.
I know that between April 2010 and April 2011, 15 million iPads were sold. In comparison and this is speculation and based on what Andy Rubin has said, 6 million Android tablets are "out there" – now does this include all the ones sporting 2.2/2.3? Doubt it, as he doesn't include the Nook Color as an example. If we're talking 6 million out there or sold, whichever one – that's still not a terrible mark. If we're talking 6 million HC tablets, even better since those saw the light of day in April 2011.
Not sure what basic fact I got wrong. It's quite ok if/that people don't trust what I think, I'm simply arguing certain points and having a discussion.
I told you exactly what you got wrong. The iPad initially wasn't $699 or $799 as you stated. It was $499. That is a basic fact.
You now put down $629 so that figure doesn't match what you wrote either.
Here is what you first wrote "The iPad/iPad 2 are dominant right now but we're only a year into tablets as another form factor." Then, you wrote this "I didn't say we were a year into the iPads 'reign', I said that we are a year into being able to buy Android tablets."
You kind of keep changing the goal posts on me. No offense, but I can only respond to what you write, not what you are thinking.
Finally, you wrote this "Your whole idea on how or why Apple makes profit doesn't hold water. Volume discounts? Nah. Their products are simply priced higher than others. "
Sorry,but I don't think you read enough about the subject. The Xoom, the Playbook, and Touchpad were all priced at the same price or higher than the iPad 16gb wifi model. And the playbook was smaller to boot. In addition there have been numerous articles about Apple's supply chain management under Tim Cook. Heck, recently there were many articles about vendors complaining and requesting that Intel slash the price of their CPUs by 50% so PC vendors could undercut the $999 Macbook Air and still eke out a small profit.
Sorry, but you simply don't know what you are talking about.
I'm not changing anything. I went back and checked pricing, ok I was off by $60 dollars, sue me. 629/729 for the models I was thinking of when I wrote what I wrote.
I mentioned originally that we're a year into Android tablets being around. The fact that you've picked a line and you don't understand what it means is not my problem. How you arrive at me saying that ipads have been around based on that line is beyond me.
The Xoom, Playbook and Touchpad were more expensive than the iPad wifi model and look what happened to them? The Xoom would compare directly to the iPad 3G, not wifi right off the bat since the wifi model was offered later on and it was horrendously expensive and paid the price. The Transformer and A500 came out at pretty competitive price points and they may not be runaway hits but they have sold well according to the vendors. The Galaxy Tablet is even slightly more expensive, but is doing well also – barring being sued into non-sale by Apple.
PC vendors want intel to cut prices for chips based on ultrabook pricing vs. the macbook air. This is a different and separate thing completely. They all enjoy a certain level of volume pricing…in terms of the tablets, Apple gets similar discounts as the rest of em'. The 32GB touchpad cost HP 328 to make, the 32GB iPad cost Apple 326.
I can 100% accept that you don't think I know what I'm talking about. I assure you the feeling is quite mutual.
Okay. I only have your text. You said one thing about pricing. You didn't mention android, but said you did and cannot be convinced despite me showing you exactly what you wrote.
You said that Apple is higher than other vendors. Here, again, are your words "Your whole idea on how or why Apple makes profit doesn't hold water. Volume discounts? Nah. Their products are simply priced higher than others". I give you examples that disproves this and you proceed to a different point.
I even give you the means to find out exactly what Apple's own CEO and many other articles say about Apple's supply chain and that isn't enough either. I mean Apple only shares components across their phone,tablet and PC lines, and even the Apple TV, but that isn't enough for you either.
I'm glad you don't think I know what I'm talking about. Considering how you debate, sir, I would be concerned if I agreed with you.
Yes, I said they price their items higher and you talk about an argument regarding PC vendors and the ultrabook, lol. I said Apple's supply chain number, blah blah aren't the issue here and I made an example of the iPad. vs the Touchpad.
Apple prices things higher, everyone knows this. You're giving an example of 1 item, the Macbook Air. That isn't an example of a product Apple makes that much money off of. I gave an example of the Macbook Pro, THAT is a product they make money from. The Mac Mini and the iMac as well as their cinema displays.
The iPad 2 costs 326 to make…I mentioned this. The Touchpad costs 328 to make…I mentioned this as well. So in terms of the TABLET, we can assume that other vendors are making them at similar costpoints, if a bit less. The A500 and Transformer retails for ~350 to 400. So who is making more money per tablet if the cost is even a bit less for them – yes, Apple. Who is making money if that Macbook is 1200 and the Dell with the same or better guts is 500? Apple.
No. I gave you the Xoom, the Playbook AND the Touchpad. Here is what I wrote ". The Xoom, the Playbook, and Touchpad were all priced at the same price or higher than the iPad 16gb wifi model. And the playbook was smaller to boot. "
I can also give you the Galaxy 10.1 and the Sony Tablets. Apple makes profit from ALL of their HW. Apple's pricing structure is why there are no iPod Touch competitors to speak off. Only now is samsung trying and look at their pricing. Is it below Apple's $199 price point?I just don't think are particular well informed about this. You are a bit sloppy with facts, no offense, and when called out on them, you shift your arguments.That doesn't make for good conversation.[I'll put this here in case you missed it]One more thing, your words "The iPad was 699 or 799 initially and again, millions purchased it. But we can easily assume that these folks consist mainly of Apple loyalists who don't necessarily have a choice of anything else. " then you followed with this "I'm not changing anything. I went back and checked pricing, ok I was off by $60 dollars, sue me. 629/729 for the models I was thinking of when I wrote what I wrote."
What you were thinking.
You don't say wifi, you don't mention 3g or anything. You *wrote* that the iPad was initially $699 or $799. That's my point. I can only address what you write, not what you meant and not what you were thinking. And the 3G version came out more than a month later. The initial version was no matter what you meant was $499.
Regardless, if you take offense to people addressing what you say or wrote as opposed to what you meant or thought, you must not enjoying discussing stuff. At least just say, "I didn't mean that." and restate your position and stop moving the goalposts.
I'll end with this. You said "initially". You were wrong. If point out your erroneous statements is your definition of "nitpick" so be it.
I said "if you were offended", if you weren't cheerfully withdrawn.
Yes, I said initially and I didn't align with wifi or 3G, but I mentioned the pricing as being 699/799, yes? I tell you THAT was a mistake because it's actually 629, that I didn't check the prices when I wrote the post – you tell me I'm changing things and that I'm wrong.
I tell you I'm talking about the 3G version – you tell me I'm changing things and that I'm wrong.
The only thing wrong about what I posted is that it was 699/799 and I admitted this. It's not my fault you drew your own meaning from this information.If someone says the Motorola Xoom (no mention of Sim vs. Wifi only model) initially was ~800, which Xoom would you come to a conclusion they were talking about, the one with a sim card or the one without? If someone says the Xoom initially was ~600, which would you think they were talking about?Yes, you ARE indeed nitpicking. What I typed is only erroneous if you read it the way you're reading it. If you're reading it the way I am, you wouldn't have an issue.The iPad "initially" released at 629/729, that is, the iPad with SIM initially released at 629/729.
Take care.
By the way, here is a yet another article about Apple's pricing prowess
Joe Chenette
If the ASUS Transformer 2 with it's Tegra 3 Kal-El processor is the same price as the iPad2, there is not contest. The Kal-El processor will blow the iPad2 out of the water.
Peter Robertine
You ever think Michael Dell reversed his comments because all their Android products sucked?
Is there a way to -1 this article?
Ray Walters
thanks for the comment, numbers don't lie, there are no Android based tablets that are moving well, besides Dell's "tablet like" devices. Thanks for reading!
Jonathan Peterson
stopped reading after the first paragraph when I realized this was written by an Apple fanboy
Ray Walters
Thanks for reading the first paragraph, I actually am a huge Android fanboy, I run a sensation with CM7 on it, own a galaxy tab 10.1 and used to write for an all Android blog.
http://twitter.com/adomanico01 Anthony Domanico
That was, of course, until you saw the error of your ways and embraced apple, right Ray?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_Y34TFZYQZKNDL7NOOTEFJYMCH4 Todd
Yes, but Android tablets have been around for less than a year in the market. If it was no worry, then why the Apple litigation? Why would Apple be going after the Samsung Galaxy tablets if 1) Android is just a blip in all the tablet market and 2) Is never going anywhere soon? Yeah, there's been some huge market stumbles from the partners (Motorola and Samsung) but the whole concept of tablet is a definition in flux and competition. Also last I saw, Android does have 20+ percent of the market in tablets, no? A bit less than Apple has in the smartphone market? Also, the Transformer was a very hot tablet at a good price point.
http://twitter.com/toriverw Tor Iver Wilhelmsen
They go after the Tab 10.1 because they feel Samsung have copied elements that they hold design patents for. And the courts so far seem to agree with them. Or are you implying Apple have used their money to buy the judges?
Samsung has even become so confused in their marketing of Apple-likeness that it was discovered a Samsung store had put various iOS icons (e.g. for the App store) on a wall that was suppose to contain Android icons.
Actually, the only reason the courts agree is because the judges are too stupid to realize that it is folly to allow someone to patent a screen and bezel "design" and because Apple was very clever to make sure that all the comparison photos and demonstrations were done while the Samsung tablet was displaying its app launcher rather than its homescreen. If the home screen was displayed then I don't think anyone who isn't blind could mistake the two. In fact, the blind person wouldn't even mistake the two given that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is thinner, lighter, has a different aspect ratio, no front button, and has a differently contoured back. But, hey, Apple feels that Samsung ripped off their design so they must be right.
http://twitter.com/toriverw Tor Iver Wilhelmsen
Are you saying one of the world's largest electronics producers was unable to field a capable legal defense? Are you sure that Samsung did not ague those points if they found them relevant?
Vlad Tepes
Yes, it's totally true, Samsung are slavishly copying the whole look and feel of apples flat rectangular tablet… I can't wait until apple starts making tvs so they can sue all the other manufacturers for stealing their designs…
If you like Android so much, why did you trash Ice Cream on tablets instead of pointing out that the Asus Transformer 2 (AKA TF201) is being announced on Nov. 7 with Ice Cream.
Why would Google steal Asus' thunder by showing Ice Cream running on some other platform? BTW, why don't you even mention the Asus Transformers, rather than the recognized failure tablets that Apple loves to bring up?
Huh? Huh?
Ray Walters
I could bring those up if you like, the Transformer, while being a great tablet, and one of my wish list devices, is one of the best selling Android tablets. On release it was selling 400,000 units a month, which is not too shabby.
So let's look at 2011 Q2, a 3 month period, about 1.1 million transformers sold, which is outstanding! Until you look at how many ipads sold, 11 million. 11 to 1 ratio. For every Transformer sold, 11 ipads were sold. Any way you cut it, the ipad is dominating the tablet market.
To answer your questions:
1. Because Asus is not an official partner of Google like Samsung. If you had not noticed, Samsung is the darling of Mountain View lately, and for good reason. Google gets behind one nexus device and pushes that as their unit. They gave away Galaxy 10.1's at I/O.
2. I am not sure which tablet you can call successful! No one android based tablet has done so well as to be a blip on the radar. By sales standards, the transformer is doing well, certainly, but again, not nearly as well as an iPad.
It does not please me to say these things. I wish I could say that there was a killer Android tablet out there. But it simply isn't the case. Thanks for reading and for your comments.
Frank Conitcello
Ray do the math 1.1 mill to 11 mill is a 10 to one ratio. Not of great importance other than having the correct numbers. Apple obvioulsy has a huge head start in the tablet market being the creator of this type of devise. As with any product most times the originator is eventually surpassed which rest assured will happen with the Ipad. I own an android device and an apple device and each have their strengths and weaknesses. The most glaring weakness of the iPad is thier stubborness in accpeting flash. This will ultimately be the determining factor in my not getting one. My business apps utilize flash thus I cannot use and iPad to access them. There are many SaaS apps that will not work on an iPad so moving forward I would imagine many others will be in the same boat.
http://twitter.com/brokenthorn Paul-Sebastian
It's true. I like what you said. Google shouldn't talk about gadgets that aren't Google branded.
The Nexus'es have always been the Google phones. They've talked about those instead.
Why should Google show a Samsung tablet for example, running ICS and make everyone think they want you to buy Samsung tablets and not tablets made by any of the other manufacturers?
That'd be just stupid if they did it. Google aren't Apple. They don't keep everything shut closed. They work with all kinds of people. They share. They innovate. They set new standards.
Why isn't Google suing Apple for copying their notification center widget? Because Google isn't paranoid and egotistic like Apple.
http://profiles.google.com/kennjason Jason Kennedy
Don't lie, Ray! You tried to poison everyone at the Big Android BBQ so you could silence the Android voice!
http://profiles.google.com/kennjason Jason Kennedy
Don't lie, Ray! You tried to poison everyone at the Big Android BBQ so you could silence the Android voice!
Dennis Forbes
I don't think it's the writing of an Apple fanboy rather than simply, essentially, pandering to an audience.
This is the swill that sells to the Hacker News / Daring Fireball sort of crowd. It is a very heady motivator in getting people writing these empty "articles". See every recent entry by that D Curtis guy as another example.
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
D Curtis doesn't work at ET, btw, just to clarify.
Dennis Forbes
Thanks, Sebastian, though I did not claim that he was.
There is a cottage industry of writers pandering to a certain audience that desperately need their reality affirmed. The "Android is hopeless / junk / this changes nothing" crowd, which you'll find it good numbers on HN, or funneled via Daring Fireball. It's a sad, sad world, but if you're writing a blog or some site and you want traffic, it's a bloody easy way to draw in the eyeballs and get the links.
ICS was *always* presented as bringing Honeycomb to smartphones. So what is the point of this article? Ah, right, it's to spout doom about Android tablets (currently at 6 million, which at about $3 billion+ in gross revenue is actually huge, and only pales beside the absurdly high sales of the iPad).
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
Yar, sorry, I was pointing that out for anyone else who might be reading the comments :) (Who is he? I've not heard of him before.)
I can assure you that we're not seeing any kind of affirmation from HN or Daring Fireball, or any other aggregation site. We just parse the daily news, discuss it, and then pitch post ideas at each other. Some are positive, some are negative, some are hyperbolic — there's a fairly good mix on ET, if you take a look around!
The main thing, though, is that we're not a neutral, press release-regurgitating tech site, which means posts nearly always come down in favor of one service/object/fanbase — which means our comments are usually quite vitriolic :)
http://twitter.com/brokenthorn Paul-Sebastian
Very well said Sir. Very well.
http://twitter.com/toriverw Tor Iver Wilhelmsen
*checks again*
Nope, no counter-arguments to the article in sight. I guess there is no hope for Android since even its proponents use the name Apple as much as Apple fans do.
Dennis Forbes
What a clever retort.
Do you really think this is the context where counter arguments are relevant or inspired? I wouldn't waste my breath. Further given that the whole article is vis-a-vis Apple, the fact that Apple is brought up is rather obvious.
But if you think this validates whatever notions you already have, go right ahead and maintain your delusion.
Do you have a counter argument or NOT?
http://twitter.com/hitherebrian hitherebrian
This sentence doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Happy now?
"Android may be dominating the smartphone market in sales (and that is due to sheer numbers of devices, not due to market demand), but …"
http://twitter.com/brokenthorn Paul-Sebastian
In reply to the same quote: So what the guy is saying is that someone had real bad diarrhea and crapped up all those Android phones that no one wanted and that's why there are more Android smartphones *in use* than there are iPhones. Hah, yeah, real smart. Sounds exactly like what a mindless fanboi would spout out.
Dennis Forbes
I don't think it's the writing of an Apple fanboy rather than simply, essentially, pandering to an audience.
This is the swill that sells to the Hacker News / Daring Fireball sort of crowd. It is a very heady motivator in getting people writing these empty "articles". See every recent entry by that D Curtis guy as another example.
Darren Means
Wow, who is the fanboy here? I have said it before and I will say it again. If someone wants to beat the iPad 2, they will need to do it better faster and cheaper. None of these things have happened because the guys who are developing these are like the rest of us who read these stories, they are nerds (geek squad ruined the name geek for me). We want to be able to do everything on our tablets including tweak the UI. We can do that with android, but we are a blip on the radar screen of consumerism. The consumer wants something they can pick up and figure out in five minutes. They can do that with iPod, with android… not so much.
I own both and use both for different purposes. In all honesty I find the android glitchy and having the tendency to crash to a point where there needs to be a hard reset. I don't see that with an iPod. I can do much more with my Galaxy, but I also use it as a computer, the iPod never claimed to be a computer and I have never used it as one, but when I do presentations I use it and it works well for that.
Thanks for your honesty. I got a Thrive and was a bit disappointed in the cohesive/smoothness factor. Starting to think maybe I should have gone iPad. Now you make me feel better about my choice because my intent was to use the tablet more like a computer and less like an entertainment device. Thx.
I noticed that he was a fanboy, but it didn't stop me from reading the whole article haha!
Interesting… I had the impression that he actually prefers android, and is trying to figure out why people buy iOS devices even though android is better. Basically, he is an android fan who wants to say that people still buy the iPad for stupid reasons. I sort of agree, but think the real reason is the iPad targets the elderly, parents, and other technological illiterates. The simplicity is just too tempting for such people
Keith Richardson
If "fanboy" is the new word for "shill" then Ray Walters is a fanboy. For readers unclear about the defn of shill here it is:
[shil] Show IPA Slang.noun1.a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy othersinto participating, as at a gambling house, auction,confidence game, etc.2.a person who publicizes or praises something or someonefor reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship orloyalty.
verb (used without object)3.to work as a shill: He shills for a large casino.
verb (used with object)4.to advertise or promote (a product) as or in the manner ofa huckster; hustle: He was hired to shill a new TV show.
http://twitter.com/cgamache83 Clint Gamache
http://twitter.com/TheFreshFreddie Jamie Francis
Is that Steve, freelancing from beyond the grave?
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
I actually laughed out loud. Bonus points for being the funniest troll all day.
http://profiles.google.com/kennjason Jason Kennedy
I did rofl
I try not to feed the trolls, but well played, sir.
brad clawsie
we're in the 286 era of tablets, its way too early to call a conclusion here.
http://twitter.com/Phantom0316 Richard Cline
Hey Apple Fanboy. Let's wait another year or two and see if the Android vs. IOS situation on tablets follows the lead of the Android vs. IOS pattern on smart phones. It seems a similar situation .
We are just now seeing the Android tablets develop the same variety that the phones have. All the way from the $99 Chinese knockoffs that are minimally functional on a phone version of Android to products the the Asus Transformer or the Toshiba Thrive that will do 90% of what a laptop can and are pretty much equal to the iPad 2 at a $100 dollar discount. An Android tablet for every budget and every purpose and a chicken in every pot.
The biggest problem with Android tablets right now is the perceived scarcity of apps which should improve dramatically with Android 4.0. One of the major objectives of this release besides the improvements in the Android core itself was to make it simpler to develop for the large variety of android devices.
http://twitter.com/toriverw Tor Iver Wilhelmsen
Can the Androdi tablet manufacturers really afford to wait those two years, though? Withess the HP TouchPad (running the well-liked WebOS), which came out as a decent iPad challenger – if it had to compete against the iPad 1. But it did not, it competed against the iPad 2, and lost badly.
The only real challenger to the iPad is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and that is mostly because it tries so fricking hard to be as close to it as possible, to the point where Apple dragged them to court over the likeness.
mori bund
The HP TouchPad is a bad example, since it never really competed. The new CEO Leo Apotheker wanted it DOA because it didn't fit to HPs new strategy, so they did everything (high price, no marketing, stopping it shortly after its release, etc) to kill it.
http://www.digitalmagazinedeals.com Digital Magazines
The only real challenger is the Galaxy Tab 10.1? Really, are you that blind that you don't know that a whole new breed of Quad Core Android tablets are about to be launched. The Transformer 2 (or Prime as it's now being touted) will be the first major one to launch and that's rumoured to be out within the next few weeks and this will be the opening of the floodgates as the launch of the Xoom was for the dual core tablets.
Anyone with half a brain would see that the tablet market will go the way of the smartphone market and we all know what happened there Enjoy your market share while you can Apple, as you're not gonna have it for long.
Jeff Jones
I think the main reason the iPad is still outselling Android Tablets is purely hardware based. Most of the Android tablet LCD screens don't look as good as the iPad and when you test on in person the 16:9 ratio still feels strange in vertical mode. I think Android needs some high quality screens in 4:3 ratio with a newer 4G cell radio in it.
The OS isn't significant in comparison to the crappy hardware.
http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal
Jeff–I've got to add apps to that list of reasons. I love my gTab for what it does (got HC running on it) and it has a nice aspect ratio (although an incredibly cheap screen, but hey I got it for $270 new, so…), but I'm constantly hearing about some really cool app (Windtunnel Pro most recently) that is only on the iPad. Eventually something similar usually shows up for Android (Pulse v. Flipbook for example), and in some cases maybe even better, but I definitely feel like a second class citizen when it comes to apps.
I hope ICS helps with this by giving developers a bigger target to shoot at. We'll see. FWIW, one big exception to the app disparity is Swype. I love it and don't think there is anything like it on the i*. My current HC roms don't quite run it right (although I can run SlideIT, which is similar) and I miss it. I've heard the same from folks who've gone from an Android to an i*.
http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal
Jeff–I've got to add apps to that list of reasons. I love my gTab for what it does (got HC running on it) and it has a nice aspect ratio (although an incredibly cheap screen, but hey I got it for $270 new, so…), but I'm constantly hearing about some really cool app (Windtunnel Pro most recently) that is only on the iPad. Eventually something similar usually shows up for Android (Pulse v. Flipbook for example), and in some cases maybe even better, but I definitely feel like a second class citizen when it comes to apps.
I hope ICS helps with this by giving developers a bigger target to shoot at. We'll see. FWIW, one big exception to the app disparity is Swype. I love it and don't think there is anything like it on the i*. My current HC roms don't quite run it right (although I can run SlideIT, which is similar) and I miss it. I've heard the same from folks who've gone from an Android to an i*.
http://twitter.com/mikeGsays Mike Garcia
This article is a joke – it has to be considering this guy says he is "an Android fanboy" and didn't wet himself last night watching the presentation…. which, by the way, smart guy, was a presentation by SAMSUNG and GOOGLE discussing the PHONE more then anything! Yeah, they talked a lot about what ICS brings to the table, but why would they take the spotlight away from their incredible Galaxy Nexus phone by saying "oh yeah, and wait til you see what this will look like on the Galaxy Tab 10.1!" How dumb can you really be, here, I'll prove it to you….
You said we've seen ICS on tablets already? REALLY? Where? Just a few hours ago, some devs using the Android 4.0 SDK adjusted screen size on it to produce 10″ screen sizes to see for the first time ever what ICS would look like on a tablet – here's the article on TIMN: http://thisismynext.com/2011/10/19/ice-cream-sandwich-tablet/
You also said in the comments that the only successful tablet is Dell's "tablet like" device – what, are you talking about the FLOP that is the Streak? Surely you don't mean the Inspiron Duo…. Mine is on eBay right now struggling to get attention, even with dual-boot Win7 Home / Android 2.2 Froyo operating systems on it! Yeah, it's got a 320GB hard drive that no one except Archos (another joke) is crazy enough to produce and 2GB of memory, something we won't see on tablets from anyone for a while still, but the damn thing weighs a TON for what it's intended purpose is – being mobile!!! My SGT10.1 is the thinnest, lightest, and with overclocking, the fastest tablet out right now, and I'm glad to be getting rid of my mistake of a purchase you called "successful."
There's a reason I don't write articles for tech stuff, because I really can't put myself in someone else's shoes when it comes to product needs, but the reason you shouldn't be writing any of your vomit from the keyboard is because your head is too far up your ass you can't see the glow that was ICS and the Galaxy Nexus last night passed the elitist BS that is CRApple and their awful showing for iOS5 and the iThing 4S….. I really didn't think I'd see one of these skewed articles attempting to dim the bright light from the presentation last night for a while, but I'll never put it passed morons who think their elitist opinions of that nasty fruit give them the right to slam such incredible innovations as ICS!
Ryan Erskine
Couldn't agree more. Personally my dad has an iPad and iPad 2 and I feel that my touchpad running at 1.7Ghz will blow away even his iPad 2 and that is with a dead webOS. The Amazon fire is going to take the reader market away from Apple and then tablets like the transformer are going to take the rest of the market away (such as my school going one to one with transformers due to the actual keyboard). This lack of adaptation from Apple (only making one size of their giant iPod touch) will cause them to steadily lose market share in the future. Article is clearly written from an ignorant Apple fanboy point of view. Next he'll be defending the iPhone 4s with its brand new set of old android phone features.
Ray Walters
Thanks for your thought out comment Mike. Let me address some of your questions.
1. Yes, this was certainly about the phone, but much more time was given to the launch of ICS. An update that is supposed to unify handsets and tablets, helping to ease the fragmentation issue. While people are certainly excited about the Nexus, the hype was much higher around the release of 4.0
2. I'm afraid you have seen ICS on tablets, in the form of honeycomb. ICS is geared to bring honeycomb to handsets, while giving some upgrades. Honeycomb users are going to be very familiar with ICS.
3. If you read the article a little closer, it does not state that the only successful tablet was the streak. In fact, it does not mention it at all.
Again, thank you for your thought out response, and taking the time to read the article.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ASAO2LFVUN5ABO4SITHMWBRUFE Tyler Zeb
Read the whole article, and stopped caring after the first paragraph. Couldn't take the article seriously when it sounded like an anti-android device rant with some facts mixed in. I don't know if it meant to come across that way, But the actual information in the article (Ipad vs droid tabs sales) was lost with all the mindless, apple fan boy like droid bashing. And like a previous comment said, its too early to call a winner in the tablet war, Apple has always been the best at innovating new tech, and then dropping the ball and falling behind as everyone else takes their idea and makes it better
People said Apple would never survive until Microsoft paid Apple to put it's browser on their platform, and then people said Microsoft would never let their only true consumer rival die. 11 years later and Apple is worth more than Microsoft…because of their computers? No, because of the ipod. Who knew? Nobody.
And where are those ipods today, those saviors of the company? Being ignored and only slightly updated.
Tablets have been around over 10 years, 2 years ago they became sexy due to a cool touch interface that is the ipad. When HP sold thier tablet for $99, they became the 2nd contender in the tablet wars – so obviously a market that can shift quickly if something cheap or cool shows up (and those hp tablets…junk).
So will Android take over Apple? Not quickly, not this year. Probably never.
Does that mean Android is dead? Not even close.
I don't know why ipad fans think that the only way to be worth something is to sell more tablets than the ipad.
By that logic, Mac's should be thrown away since they only have 10% of the market.
No, the Android interface won't beat the ipad anytime soon if ever, does that mean it can't be saved?
Saved from what? People that will always put it down? People that won't ever buy it because it's not the right brand? That hasn't caused the Mac to go away, and it won't make Android tablets go away either. Android doesn't need "saved", it just needs to find it's own way without becoming a 100% clone of it's next closest rival. I see the Kindle fire doing that – and at $200 if it is lives up to the hype, it will be huge. Not as a ipad competitor, as its own thing, just like Android could.
Google is definitely way behind on the tablet front. And I agree that the launch of the Xoom started digging a grave for android tablets. But the key point to make is that on phones Google is solid. They are not going anywhere. And with ICS taking a big step to eliminate the fragmentation issue, Google still has the opportunity to get back into the tablet market, if they have indeed done a good job of making the app development process produce an app that is just as good on a tablet as a phone. Google definitely needs to play their hand well though; ICS is not a guarantee to get their foot in the tablet door.
Also I think it needs to be pointed out that this was a Google/Samsung event, not Google alone. They were not going to bring on products from other companies, and Samsung has yet to bring out a new tablet with ICS. They could have shown a Galaxy 10.1 with ICS I suppose though…
Craig Rathbone
Dell made no money from Android because they released underpowered, overpriced and out of date hardware that was nowhere near as good as relative offerting.
Don't blame Android for your poor market share Mr Dell, blame the fact your company takes so long to develop products. You have the same issue when you tried top flog your WindowsCE PDAs
Stick with what you know.
Reason why no tablet was shown was because it was the launch of the new Galaxy Nexus PHONE!
Your article is pointless because of that fact.
Josh Castillo
"At $899, it was ridiculous to think that consumers were going to flock to Verizon stores to pick one up."
The price was $799. What kind of fact checking are you doing?
http://porcelaintheology.blogspot.com/ KISSman
How can you expect to be taken seriously when you sound like an Apple fanboy?
The problem with you guys is that you love the company so much so that it causes you to lose the objectivity you need to write a proper article on a subject like this.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6B3LG2W3RYU5GURGNKDNWBFBBA Mr Lethal
Android currently makes up 48% of the worldwide smartphone market, iOS claims 19%, once Samsung gets through the patent worries, the tablet market is going to end up with the same figures. If Apple wasn't worried they wouldn't be sueing Samsung on every front they can.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LTZDWEMC6VRT5YVOHWCUBC4BJM Alfred
The ExtremeTech's editor should be careful to publish this kind of article. The author is probably an apple fanboy. The editor should audit every figure which is quoted by the author.
http://twitter.com/burntham77 Robert Burnham
It would seem that much like in other devices (phones, computers, etc.), Android tablets and iPads have appeal for different people. I considered an iPad until I realized they lacked SD card slots, so I went with an Android tablet, and I love it. I know it seems like a minor feature, but I wanted that flexibility.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_W5FKT23P37WYGP3HMWSBXBUNNQ JohnS
Tablets suck. They're overpriced toy computers. I have a netbook and an actual ice cream sandwich, which is a much better combination.
http://www.pradeepsanyal.com Pradeep
Tablets have their own use – specially when you are travelling.
http://www.dereleased.com Dereleased
I believe that tablets are the future of consumption based computing; reading emails, using silly apps (web or OS native), the occasional presentations, even for things like a business using them for customers to fill out forms, are all things where the tablet has enormous potential to shine.
What makes the tablet so great over a desktop or a laptop? Portability over a desktop, combined with incredibly long battery lives (usually, at least; most tablets are in the 8-10 hour range, and by building batteries into detachable keyboards you can increase that by 60%) compared to laptops, which is tied together in both cases by the change in interactivity introduced by a touch screen — you don't symbolically strike or move an external device, you put your finger on the part of the screen where the action you want to take is, and you do it.
I believe that tablets are the future of consumption based computing, but let's be brutally honest with ourselves — it is *NOT* the present. Tablets are toys. These "professional" uses we've found for tablets are, more times than not, simply begging the question, inserting the tablet because of the gee-whiz and gewgaw factors. Gee-whiz and gewgaw are pretty cool factors, of course — that's why there are, for example, video games — but you don't see office workers putting away their PCs and living their entire lives on tablets; arguably, this is partially because all of the productivity tools that we use may not exist yet for tablets, but this is really only secondary to the fact that tablets today don't have the power or versatility to do these things, and what's worse, they introduce yet another OS (or several) that need to be supported.
…But we're getting there. Recently I saw some tablets advertised on Microsoft's site that will run Windows 7, and having seen one of those in person before (and being interested but unimpressed with it) I decided to check out the specs, as the price tags on these tablets were 2-3x what I expected ($1k-1.3k range); lo and behold, these were basically laptops that were stuffed into the tablet form factor and given a capacitive touch screen. I was impressed with what I was reading — Intel Core i5, 4 GB DDR3, 64-128GB SSD, and so on — tablets that would really, truly be tablet /computers/ as we've come to expect the word computer to mean! Then I saw the battery life. Some were as bad as 3 hours, which is only a marginal improvement from a laptop and roughly the same as a netbook — why would I trade the advantages of a laptop — optical media, more input/output options, built in keyboard — without getting the advantages of a tablet from the battery perspective?
There was at least one that had a 7 hour battery life quoted. That's getting more in line with what I expect, and what I hope for. If they can give me a battery in a detachable keyboard that adds 3 or 4 more hours, then I don't even know what I will do with my transformer; for a while it will have the advantage in terms of apps written to take advantage of the touch-based interaction, but that will fade in time, and if these kinds of tablets were to begin to supplant laptops and desktops for consumption based computing, it would be much sooner than later. Time will tell, if this comes to pass, whether my transformer would remain even lightly relevant.
So, I've stated my view, but I think there is one thing which the community, the consumers, are going to have to step up and do, and that is define the direction of tablet computing, i.e., what is it that makes me want a tablet as opposed to a laptop or desktop? Gee-whiz won't last forever.
Mark Lewin
I thought this was a great article and completely agree….im actually a pretty informed consumer and just wanna get something for my two kids…with the complete saturation of the market and a new tablet appearing in the wild every month with different flavors of the same OS, it makes me wonder what to do and what that means to the apps. I was very disappointed on not having any info on ICS on tablets..i thought for sure there would be something. At this point, android tablets keep dropping prices….it all makes you wonder why and whats coming up.. ….my wife just asks me why not spend an extra $150 on an iPad. ugh!
http://www.digitalmagazinedeals.com Digital Magazines
I don't think I've ever read a more biased article in my life. Apple fan by any chance?
I personally feel that the first generation iPad is "sexier" than the second generation.
Joe Chenette
"The iPad 2 exudes pure sexiness, it is the device to have and be seen with." This is the main reason I cannot stand the iPad 2. However…. recent studies have come out that the younger generations are flocking to Android because too many "old people" have iPhones and iPods. Engadget had an article on it.People often end up liking what is marketed to the young (e.g. old people buying Scions, which was marketed to young adults by Toyota) and if that is the case, the iPad will lose it's "cool" factor, which is the only thing it really has because on spec vs spec the Android tablets are superior.
Terry Gorman
I suppose it's disingenuous of me to even weigh in here, given what my comment's going to be. I'm not a computer expert in any sense of the word, although I've been playing with these things since the TI-99, going to a Commodore 64, graduating to an Apple IIc, then the first Power Mac, the 6600, eventually adding Windows machines for business purposes, and now I'm playing with my new Acer A500. I'm enjoying configuring it, it's fun, and it looks like it'll do what I want it to do. And I still shake my head at this 'Ford vs. Chevy' mindset that so many people have regarding operating systems. Christ, If you like MacOS/iOS, use it. If you like WIndows, use it. If you like Linux, or Ubuntu or whatever, use it. If you snagged a firesale TouchPad and WebOS is doing what you need it to do, use it. Android is relatively new and in development mode. Apple's had decades to refine iOS. As far as this article is concerned, yes, my sense is that it's calculated to provoke more than it is an unbiased assessment. It's a free market system, success breeds success, and Apple has created a market segment with the IPad that others, in this case Google with Android, would like to have a piece of. I think it's entirely presumptuous of this writer, or anyone, to claim 'crystal ball' powers in forecasting the future of any OS. He could have written a similar 'doom and gloom' article about Apple and MacOS at its lowest point, before Jobs was 'unbanished' and applied his marketing skills to revive the brand. And if Android doesn't succeed as a tablet OS, big deal. It won't be the first orphaned product in history, or the last. I'LL still play with it as long as it's useful to me. What I WON'T do is knock someone else's preference for what they like to compute with.
http://twitter.com/JacobHoltom Jacob Holtom
fucking apple fanboy i want a pic of u with your fucking mouth open so I can photoshop u giving a giant android a BJ
Fausto Garcia
I disagree, simply because ICS is basically a melding of Android and webOS. If you've webOS on a tablet, it's a thing of simplicity and elegance. Honeycomb was basically trying to get something on an Android tablet while eschewing support for smaller devices (phones).
If you've used like, let's say, a Touchpad vis a vis an iPad..there really is no comparison as far as the UI experience goes. In fact, i'd go so far as to say that the only OS that could have taken it to iOS on the tablet side was webOS. Here's the kicker, the guy who designed it also designed Ice Cream Sandwich. So now you've got Google's resources, a bunch of manufacturers who've got the hardware to run something like this very nicely..and then there's Apple.. If the non-event that was the iPhone 4S is any indicator, it seems like Apple is following now, not leading. The 4S was obsolete the day it was released. I can't say much for the iPad 3 as I don't know what it actually entails, but rest assured, Apple better stay on their toes, they can't afford to stumble as they will surely be passed by…
Oh yeah, until the Android tablets with ICS come out en masse, Kindle Fire will be busy putting in some body blows to the overpriced iPad's holiday sales. It's not an iPad killer, of course, as it's not meant to be.. but man, it's gonna leave some serious bruises…
by the way, i threw my 2 cents in specifically for Mr. Tor Iver Wilhelmsen
http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal
Fausto–Everything I know about webOS is consistent with what you've said. I wasn't willing to shell out big bucks for a Touchpad just to find out, but did travel to 3 different Best Buys, place an order online (cancelled by the vendor 3 days later) and put my name in with HP to try and get one of the darn things at the firesale price. No word yet on that "one last run" of tablets so far. I do hope they find a home for webOS. If I was Amazon, I'd buy it.
I don't care. Tablets are all ridiculous overpriced pieces of hardware that fail to do much more than any smartphone. This article was a waste of time. It only proved to me how many more apple fans are suckers than android fans.
I would like some one to explain why the I pad is ten times better that a competing android tablet? What makes legions of iTards go out and buy every thing Apple makes? What functionality does the iPad have that other tabs don't? I just wish another company (preferably a less fascist one) would figure out how to brainwash the public the way Apple has. Why can't any other Tech company get "the cool factor"?
Todd Patrick
"the iPad exudes pure sexiness"
you have got to be kidding me. the guy who pulls out the iPad is invariably the wet noodle in the room.
it's not that android pads or amazon pads are any better – it's that these toys are a fad. I'm not saying they will go away, but they won't replace machines that one can actually, you know, write an email on either. Their popularity and high sales numbers are the fad.
Todd Patrick
"the iPad exudes pure sexiness"
you have got to be kidding me. the guy who pulls out the iPad is invariably the wet noodle in the room.
it's not that android pads or amazon pads are any better – it's that these toys are a fad. I'm not saying they will go away, but they won't replace machines that one can actually, you know, write an email on either. Their popularity and high sales numbers are the fad.
http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal
I'm really enjoying my (Android) tablet, but I have to say that your point about input rings completely true. It's downright fun to plow through mail with Kaiten Mail or new with Pulse, UNTIL I need to actually write something. Swype or one of the similar enhanced input programs make it a little more reasonable, but I can type really quickly on a real keyboard, or even on my netbook keyboard, but feel pretty crippled on a tablet. I've got a little bluetooth keyboard, but it is work to get it set up, is still really small, and I always figure by then why don't I just haul out my laptop.
If I was going to buy another tablet I'd seriously consider the Transformer just for the potential to have a better keyboard story.
Scatman John
They said that apple will never relinquish the iPhone lead either, and now who has the biggest market share?
1) Given that Asus deployed Honeycomb on the original Transformer, I don't see why you would not consider them an "official partner". It also looks as if the first deployment of Ice Cream Sandwich will be on the Asus Transformer Prime (which I referred to as the Asus Transformer 2) being announced on Nov. 9 (which I earlier listed as being Nov. 7). As for giving away Galaxy 10.1 tablets at I/O, those were Honeycomb tablets, not Ice Cream Sandwich tablets — and clearly Samsung's Galaxy was the favorite for Honeycomb. That's one tablet and one release.
2) Given that Transformer sales outstripped supply for much of 2011 (although they do seem to have caught up, since many are waiting for the Transformer Prime and the Tegra 3 quad+ core), I would say that it qualifies as successful. Note that unlike many of its competitors, Asus hasn't resorted to dropping the price to increase sales. Asus has had no problem selling all the tablets they make, and they are taking a slower but steady path to ramping up. Their weakest link right now is marketing; however I, for one don't want to pay a premium for marketing.
While the ASUS Prime may not be an "iPad killer", it certainly is in the sweet spot for price/performance that neither the $899+ premium "penthouse" tablets nor the cheap $99 underwhelming "bargain basement" tablets have staked out. It will show just how good an Android tablet can be, and will be the next showcase Android tablet in what will almost certainly be a long line of these.
Ah I long for the days when people used to say iPhone dominated the market and that Android would never catch up. Ohh those were the days.
James Perreault
This guy is completely wrong in almost every way. " guy who wrote this review!" Android has seen more evolution since 2008 then any other os ever made, Windows is out dated and windows 8 looks like a fisher price toy UI with crazy colors that look more like 1991 do u really want to buy a tablet with windows on it? huh enough said! sure apple is amazing, and has made some really killer products but to give you hdmi port, usb port and even sd slot will Never come to apple iPad ever!! Along with the interface really hasn't changed all that much since iphone back in 2007 widget like icons for your apps and now a drop down box for notifications, and multitasking and Still no Flash!!!!! I see android 4.0 really picking up if more tablets are made on to it from like acer, asus, Motorola and Samsung keep making better tablets consumers have more choices and more options who do u think will be on the top in 2015?
http://twitter.com/TronZaleski John Zaleski
Fanboys shouldn't be allowed to write articles
I don't disagree with most of the points in your article and there is no doubt that Apple has a gigantic lead on the tablet market, but I don't understand why you can't see the inevitable. In 2009, Android was just a blip in the smartphone market. In 2-4 quarters, it dominated the market. The same is poised to happen in the tablet market, which is just starting to take off.
Regardless of how well Honeycomb did or didn't do, a single product (the iPad) cannot stem the flood of the myriad of tablets that Android will produce in 2012. It's just a matter of supply and demand. Do you really think that HTC, Samsung, Asus, Acer, LG, Sony, etc, are just going to sit on the sidelines and watch Apple eat up the market?
By 2013, at the very least, Android, Blackberry and Windows 8, will have a majority of the tablet market share (iPad is already down 20%, to around 70% this year) , and Android will most likely be leading the way.
David Maclean
Opinion over facts never works, obviousness not read by the editor.
android 2? Wow your really not up to date. Try Android 3.2
And as a matter of fact Android devices have already out sold ios devices two to one in 2011:
On top of that, Federal District Us court is about to invalidate the Ipad patent:
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2M65LSUV2WZBZV7JHQT47VHJLM UNTRugby
how does cheap tablets hurt android anymore than cheap pcs hurt windows?
You know their is still a lot of rough edges about Android even with Google running the show. Just like most Linux based Operating systems. The roughness never seems to totally go away. I am not here to give a reason why that is. It just is.
Mauricio Guerrero
Last time I checked android didn't need saving. RIM needs saving lol… as do the rest of the now little guys.
There's more android devices out there than apple devices, and they keep growing drastically. Keep in mind too that android's only been around for a little while, and apple has been here for ages. To accomplish so much timeline wise makes android as an OS actually show that it's a juggernaut.
http://twitter.com/rafken79 Rafken
Well, the thing is, should I personally care which tablet sells the most when I buy one? Or even if it exudes sexiness, as you call it. If this is the case, then why buy Apple computer or setup linuxboxes, as they are just a blip in the market of personal computing.
I'll be comparing specs and features when buying my first tablet (The Transformer look great).
But then again, that's just us nerds & tweakers. Luckily there are enough of us.
I know this much:
I can buy a decent Android tablet for $250-300 and go upward of $600.
iPad2 starts from $499 and go upward of $800.
Just based on price, I'm gonna think about Android until Apple shows me definitive reasons that they are superior and offer me significant options that Android doesn't.
I don't see Android needing saving from Apple, so long as it's a more economical option with similar functionality.
biased shit
This article is so freaking retarded on so many levels.
http://profiles.google.com/amunet.goddess Kimmy Cleven
I like that this is not an all together sheeple post. It has information that is helpful and detailed enough to know it is not just hot air. However I don't see the balance that must be talked about when Apple is mentioned. In the computer world it was doing well till it's restrictions caused it to dive bomb. PC won, hands down. Then iPhones where the newest thing and like the computer platform, it too has fallen to a more open source OS. Isn't it a bit of logic to think that the iPad might well dive as well? You say the gold standard is iPhones and I do not at all agree. There is a reason Android is winning in that area. I must admit I love droid. I have no connection to Android other than being a customer. So when considering what tablet to get I am not set on Android. The shinny sheeple thing seems to be iOS. I however like to be able to mess with my stuff. I want flexibility. I want usb ports! Maybe though in this one case, like iPods once where, this market might, might last. I really just am having a hard time seeing it. The one thing that saved this though for me is that it is noted that iPhones do not own the market and Android did take it from them and holds on strong still. It means one might honorably keep ones beloved Droids and maybe pick up an iPad to see if the sheeple might be right about this one. :)
oh, come on. android beating iphone proves that the reality distortion field isn't as powerful as appleheads believe.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LTZDWEMC6VRT5YVOHWCUBC4BJM Alfred
This article breaks a new record for having a great number of negative comments on it.
http://twitter.com/IllegalOpcode Don
I think the main reason Apple is doing better then Android devices is that the people android devices are made for think tablets are pretentious at best. I have never liked tablets nor have I liked apple, so I would not buy any tablet. Now this is from my point of view meaning it's my reason but I think there are a lot more that have the same outlook. I came across this article via StumbleUpon or I would never have been on the site. Damn fan boys.
http://twitter.com/evil666overlord Evil Overlord
The main thing this article taught me is that Ray Walters is a terrible journalist.
The slightest of research shows the market share of android was around 30% back in July and is only going upwards – hardly the "not even a blip on the radar " he quotes.
None of this article is backed up by any form of evidence and the entire thing is just an Apple fanboy expressing opinions as fact just to have a rant about android.
The worst of it is I trust he was paid well for this tripe.
http://twitter.com/evil666overlord Evil Overlord
The main thing this article taught me is that Ray Walters is a terrible journalist.
The slightest of research shows the market share of android was around 30% back in July and is only going upwards – hardly the "not even a blip on the radar " he quotes.
None of this article is backed up by any form of evidence and the entire thing is just an Apple fanboy expressing opinions as fact just to have a rant about android.
The worst of it is I trust he was paid well for this tripe.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_H6ZHYIHTIOYYQ7OK2Q7Z6XYJCY virginia
With the economy in a definite down slide, who can afford an IPAD? It seems they are over priced for what the newer Google android OS have to offer. Initially ICS was being touted as a phone OS as well as a tablet OS and that it would offer all of the best of all the older versions plus a lot of new features. The fact that there were no tablets sporting ICS at the Samsung event was a definite attempt by Apple to try to squash the competion by ignoring it. I am sure the IPAD is a very nice device but I want a ICS device made by some obscure startup at a much lower price point.
Sean McCartneyu
Good Lord, who allowed this drivel to actually be posted??? Another sycophant
spouts their love for all things Apple and nothing but disdain for anything else
that DARE compete with them. So what is it like to be completely delusional? I'm
honestly curious.
Would you like to know why the ipad is popular (well, in the apple crowd
only)? Because it is the AOL of the tablet world! Or as I called AOL when it was
around, "INTERNET FOR IDIOTS!…any child can pick it up and use an ipad, which
sounds really nice except for the fact that YOU are using a tablet limited to
ONLY an interface for a 3-yr-old…so what does that say about your intellect?
At least with Android it takes some thought and allows you the flexibility to do
whatever you want with it…where have I heard this before, hmm, sounds like mac
vs pc.
"The iPad 2 exudes pure sexiness, it is the device to have and be
seen with."
Bwaahhhhaaahahaha…man, the author REALLY needs to get out more. Personally,
I wouldn't be caught dead with an ipad (which I realize that by his logic that
is just not possible because everyone loves apple and ipads).
I could go on, but honestly, this moron's pro-apple rant is not worthy of
anything but a good laugh at his sheer ignorance.
Armando Villanueva
Soo 899.99 for a Motorola Xoom with a data plan is overpriced…but the EXACT same price for an iPad2 with the same data plan is acceptable?
Someone didn't do their research.
If you did, you'd see that the top contending Android tablet, with the same data plan is the exact same price as the iPad2. – If you're looking to save a few bucks, you're guaranteed to find an android tablet for cheaper. So if you're going to try and use pricing as one of your primary arguments, make sure it actually applies to the point you're trying to make.
If Android fails to gain any market share in 2012, it won't be because of what you said. It will be for a reason that is logical, rational and will absolutely make much more sense then what you're saying.
Charles Arnold
at first i was like: Go away apple fanboy!
* almost quit reading but decided to continue*
Then by the end i like: he actually likes android! cool!
True story
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5MLOULD7DXU3IBLNRYT4UR5UDQ Patrick
I wonder the reason why the editor is keeping this rubbish article for such a long time. It is not because it is a most popular article. Because it attracts so many negative comments on it. So that the author would feel embarrassing. It is a punishment for an apple fanboy to write anything that stimulate the nerves of the non apple fans
http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony
I don't generally edit posts once they are live, and I certainly don't delete them (unless they're illegal or something).
I completely agree. I don't own a single Apple product, but I *do* own an Acer Iconia tablet, have an Android powered phone, and am a Linux user. I think Honeycomb is just awful. It's buggy, the applications are horrible, and it has a tendency to slow down at times. I really do regret my tablet purchase and now I want an iPad just because I know it will work and has well-built applications. I know this because I find myself on my brother's iPad more often than not. Sure Android as some nifty features, but I'd quickly give up the ability to play games with an Xbox controller or log into the OS using my face for something like iWork or maybe a decrease in Android bugs.
What really steams my knickers, however, is that Google is throwing all of these resources around while letting Android for tablets stagnate. Updated site themes? Cool. Facial login? Cool. Already have a few ways to log into my phone, but cool. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of Google Maps crashing every five seconds. I'm tired of activity launcher locking up and freezing. I'm tired of getting stretched out applications that don't fill my screen. I'm tired of all these little odd bugs popping up like the first input into web forms via a bluetooth keyboard is automatically capitalized regardless of whether or not caps lock is active.
I hope Windows 8 will be able to be installed onto my tablet when it comes out.
didier laf
I've an Asus eeepad Transformer TF101 and i'm very satisfied of it.
Features are great and there's a micro SD card slot ; the price was good ; and updates are reliables and comes in time.
And, first of all, i'm not locked in the Apple universe, allowed to do only what Apple wants me to do (or pay)
Think of it ;-)
http://www.facebook.com/dbdurban Shawn McCray
Whatever, i remember reading these exact same comments about android phones, how they will never be able to beat the iPhone.
What apple folks love so much about the apple line of products "they just work" is a result of the closed system on which they run. The closed system is the reason why android was able to overtake the iPhone in such a short period of time. Further, what apple folks should say is not that they dont work (try getting some files to sync natively from an android phone to an ipad), its that "they just work with other apple products".
The fact that you cannot replace any native apps, or anything that apple sees as their own market, is another big reason why android is so much more popular now. Keep in mind, with iPhone/iPad you cannot replace the email app, the web browser, the keyboard, cloud syncing (sugarsync and dropbox do not count as you cannot sync directly to memory that the device "sees"), etc, etc. Incidentally, this type of behavior is EXACTLY what got microsoft in trouble years back because they were putting IE on all windows machines, and they didnt even say you couldnt have another browser.
Market Demand, as you say, is, as always, for diversity as we are a diverse people. If apple offered several different options, and allowed some basic customization, like a new keyboard if you dont like the stock one, i think they would find it much easier to compete with android. e.g. – i just bought a tablet, actually bought an iPad, but found so many limitations due to apple policies, that i traded it in for an android tablet despite the lack of as many tablet apps for android. I did it with the wisdom that history always repeats itself, the iPad is going the way of the iPhone, huge out of the gates, just to have android steal their thunder.
https://launchpad.net/~hugh-mimosa Hugh
"archaic", "veracity" are nice words but I don't think you mean them. Perhaps "abstruse" and "legitimacy" are what you mean.
https://launchpad.net/~hugh-mimosa Hugh
"archaic", "veracity" are nice words but I don't think you mean them. Perhaps "abstruse" and "legitimacy" are what you mean.
Joshua Diamond
"Android may be dominating the smartphone market in sales (and that is due to sheer numbers of devices, not due to market demand)…" What a cop-out. While your breakdown of the tablet-war is fairly accurate, your analysis of the mobile market is illogical at best. As your numbers suggest, there is a GREATER DEMAND for Android smartphones.Unlike Apple, whose hardware is analogous to the "same taste everywhere" model of McDonald's (which works for some people), Android OS is open-sourced and runs on a variety of phones. It doesn't matter if people are choosing between two or two hundred Droids…the simple fact of the matter is that there is currently a greater DEMAND for phones with Android software. I don't know what the sales are for computers right now, but, hypothetically, if computers running Windows were dominating those with Mac OS, would you have the same comeback, i.e. "It's not due to market demand, it's just because there are more devices running Windows like Dell, IBM, etc."?What part of this basic "Econ 101″ concept is not registering with you?I am always amazed with this Apple-fanboy cop-out of delegitmizing his main (and better) competitor by emphasizing the number of different Android mobile devices. That's the name of the game, if you don't like it, go see if someone at the Apple store can take care of it.
http://www.queentorrent.com Queentorrent
Over the weekend, I had chance to work next to a guy with a Zoom and me
with my Ipad2. Both are fun and useful devices to have out in the
field. This prizefight doesn't speak to the biggest current difference:
Apps! Given Ipad's head start and Apple's fine turned echo-system
approach, there simply are more and better Apps on the Ipad. Content is
king, and there is better packaged, more plentiful content on the Ipad.
If Google/Zoom find a way to catch up, all the better and I hope they
do to keep the competition strong with Apple. BTW, the Zoom Flash
benefit? seriously, Flash froze EVERY time I used it on Zoom. Given,
we were only on 3G coverage, not full wifi, but I prefer no Flash (and
app alternative) than Flash that freezes and forces me to restart.
Lastly, was it just me or did these judges come up with criteria that
seemed more appropriate for Laptops than tablets?
http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal
I have to agree that Android doesn't seem to be very content friendly (yet, I hope, speaking as an owner of 2 Android phones and 2 Android tablets). Google's Movie/Video store seems to be full of problems (for me at least). That goodness for Netflix, but that's only streaming, not much help on airplanes.
For books, I mostly go with the ubiquitous Kindle version for any I'm going to buy, which is fine, but Google clutters (IMO) their appstore up with their book offerings, which I just find distracting as their prices always seem higher than Amazon's for the same book.
There are 200,000 apps that are iPad specific, 300,000+ on iOS making the total 500,000. Android has 425,000 apps that both phone and tablets can use. So in relative terms, your co-worker has 225,000 more apps and widgets you don't have for your iPad specifically. By the end of 2012, android will have added 50,000 more ICS apps and developers are now working on the next android os, Android Jellybean by the summer of 2012
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JZ63EKK3Y3YBJ4I5MFM73S6LWI Terry
Makes it sound like Android is doomed. I like Apple quality but hate it treating the masses like morons. The bit about cheap devices was the most ridiculousness thing I have ever seen in an article. Android is open source like Linux. Aren't Both Apple IOS and Android are based on Linux?
Apple does not handshake outside it's own ecosystem, allowing no one to customize it to their changing needs.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ted-Calouri/1217162233 Ted Calouri
"Android may be dominating the smartphone market in sales (and that is due to sheer numbers of devices, not due to market demand)"…. If Apple were an automobile manufacturer they would make a single model. It would be stylish, efficient, well made and a great car. If it was to small to fit your family or to big for your garage, then it would be upon you to trim your family size or expand your garage. We are a diverse species with diverse needs. What Steve Jobs called fragmentation, I call diversity and the freedom of choice. The first Android phones were stepping stones rather than outright competitors to the iPhone and I see the same happening here with tablets.
,?!?WTF….? Your example is stupid and lucid. Your car example makes better sense if you likened it to US cars vs. cars made in Japan. Apple products work for those who only use apple products. Android is open and available to everybody.
Al Chandler
I have to
disagree with this. Yes the iPad is one of the best tabs out but it is
"one" of the best. There are very good android based tabs out there
as well. People have this idea that it is made by apple to it has to be the
greatest thing every. Let's not forget how the iPad didn't have a camera and
people thought it was still amazing. I know a lot of people that want an iPad
and when I ask why they tell me a coworker has one, it looks cool, or my
favorite it has a lot of different apps. When I ask why not an android I get,
is it like an iPad. So people are not buying the iPad because it is great, they
are buying it because they don't know any better. Their mind is limited. So
again I like the iPad and android. They both do the same thing at the same
speed. Right now it is down to which one I prefer, not which one is better.
http://chefpeas.myopenid.com/ chefpeas
Alot of speculation and prediction based purely upon opinion. Fact is that Honeycomb is already on par or very close to the iPad experience. ICS will exceed iOS in many ways. Android tablets have steadily gained market share and are set to surpass the iPad in the coming years. It's a numbers game and Apple simply can't compete in that respect.
Funny how mr Walters suddenly decides to quote Dell as an authority in the mobile space. Dell has been an absolute failure in the sector and is floundering about desperately trying to get market share. Anything Dell says I would conclude the exact opposite.
Wow, someone does not know what he is writing about, or just missing all the points:
1:Many, many android apps runs perfectly fine on an android tablet without being specifically made for Honeycomb
2: ICS on a lot of existing phones will (suprise, surprise) bring a whole lof of more ICS apps, ICSC apps while have even better compatibility across devices with different screen sizes.
3: Access to Honeycomb has been restricted, this will make it much easier to produce Android tablets with a OS that actually works well on tablets. Most of the cheap ones comes with Gingerbread, which isn't really suited all that well for the task. The fact that you didn't even know this just shows you are in way over your head, with a floating device full of wholes and an ankle chain… If you DID know this, this article says everything about how ibjective you are, and how much attention one should pay to you.
4: This specific bit is so completely removed from reality, I don't know what to say:
"On the other end of the spectrum, because Android
is open, companies are free to create no-name devices with the OS
slapped onto them, then shipped for rock-bottom prices. When a consumer
sees a tablet at Walgreens for $99, it is going to create doubt in their
mind of the veracity of the product. This erodes consumer confidence
since they assume these low-priced tablets are an iPad knock-offs, and
in the long run these poor excuses for hardware hurt the Android brand
recognition as people place relate it to junk toys rather than serious
hardware."Those people won't think Android tablets are bad. They'll think cheap Walgreentablets are bad. Do you seriously think most of those people will even connect the dots between that device and "Samsung NewGreatTab 2012″? Yeah, that's just as likely as the same people not buying a Dell laptop because the latest toshiba laptop they had sucked..
Chris Gapske
It is clear this blog writer could not make it in the real world. His writing is poor he is completely one sided and is only writing to make Apple shine. For the fact of the matter is that when windows comes out with tablets they will control the market.. Sad but true. Apple charges way to much for there product. The IOS solutions are outdated and they do planned obsolescence . Then get you to drink the kool-aid. I have an IPAD 2 and had an Iphone. As a network engineer the Ipad is ONLY good for connecting back to my windows or linux workstations. Email stinks. People that buy the Ipad thinking it is the best and most advanced product are just cattle.
I have gone astray ..
This writer is not objective in his post it would make even apple fan boys root for android. Very sad . Apple was the first to produce a semi smart tablet but they need to make it osx lite not ios. IOS has been outgrown.
Nomail X
This is a typical irrelevant pro-apple Article. It fails taking in account the most important datas and facts the technical world has witness over the years. First, know that I-Phone already lost it's share supremacy to Samsung. I Pad has already started to lose it's share against Asus Transformer. Next year when the 3rd Asus Transformer Tablet will behold the NVIDIA Tegra "Wayne" processor, supporting Directx 11+, Apple will be completely (B)eaten!. Specially if Tablets starts to adopt Nvidia Tegra Wayne Processor with Windows 8 as an OS. Never forget that it's Gamers and Game developpers firms who proclame which device and platform will go further, and which will fade. And if you do not understand or agree with this, well, ask Sony how Microsoft beat them in their own country and stole all their exclusivity with game companies with a less powerful machine, just because of directx. In short, the quality of an Android OS is irrelevant. Nothing can prevent Apple to receive a few more bites from Microsoft, Asus, and Nvidia on their Logo. Tablets are starting to get more and more powerful. They are starting to merge with consoles, netbooks, and even pcs. Apple's only chance to survive is to work with Sony and merge with the "Cell" processor, and invest in the next "cell" based GPU which sony left behind years ago to launch the console earlier.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_5X47ADTD7BOMLMPDKKRFC6P4ZU D. WAYNE
Such a short sighted article. As Blackberry is proving, it's not who gets out the gates first (iPhone and iPad), it's who is able to alter course fastest to capture what people want. Apple gave people what people thought they wanted ion the iPhone. Google gave them what they realized they actually wanted. Think of this as a one two punch. By the end of this year I predict Apple phone sales will start slowing as Android sales continue to increase. iPad sales will continue to increase but by the end of next year they too will start decreasing as Windows and Android sales continue to ramp up.
Zo Fryer
So you were wrong lol. : )
http://profiles.google.com/fpstevens Paul Stevens
Fanboy alert.
This is a closed minded article. Speaking now 5 months after this opinionated writing, Apple will always be for those fans of Apple and Steve Jobs who blindly support them. People who want options with their tablet will usually choose Android. Apple looks great if you already have an existing Apple ecosystem in your home or plan to spend $5000.00 creating one. Apple believes in WYSIWYG, no compromise. Android phones and tablets allows you to work within a society that is still dominated by IBM compatible hardware and software which are customizable. Finally, comparing iPad and Android Tablets is dumb. There are at least 12 to 15 android tablet makers, Apple is only competing against itself. Besides iPhone and iPod Touch that's it.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RSY5SLBHKNGXLQRW4FM3YN7S7M Mike
Not very objective or for that matter factual. There will come a time (and it is sooner than you think) that people will get tired of not having full control over their IPads and want more. ICS offers that right now. Now doubt ICS needs some smoothing out but it will happen.
IOS is not a great OS, it's all the apps that make it what it is and since it has been out for such a long time is should be much more powerful. Apple keeps turning out platforms for zombies that don't care to know how it works or get the most out of it. I for one think ICS is a great step forward for the Andriod platform and think it has a great future!
For what it's worth from a 30 year computer professional!
Now doesn't this article look foolish after only a year: