A frustrated CEO speaks: Why Android Tablets are not Selling

[RockdaMan]

Nvidia's CEO is not pleased with the cool reception Android tablets have gotten so far. And he expressed frustration over marketing gaffes in an interview with CNET earlier this week.

"It's a point of sales problem. It's an expertise at retail problem. It's a marketing problem to consumers. It is a price point problem," he said, for starters.

Though Huang didn't mention the $499 starting price for the iPad, it was clear that this was a reference point. "The baseline configuration included 3G when it shouldn't have," he said. "Tablets should have a Wi-Fi configuration and be more affordable. And those are the ones that were selling more rapidly than the 3G and fully configured ones," he said.

He didn't stop there. "And it's a software richness of content problem," he added, echoing Jha's comments.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20062940-64.html

[Andanzas]

Interesting. I was actually writing a thread called "Reasons to buy an Android tablet?" but I guess this guy has given me the answer: I should wait. I had decided that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 would be my first tablet (if the price turned out to be somewhat reasonable), but I am having second thoughts now after doing a little bit of research. It seems that all the good things I hear about Android are related to phones and not tablets. The OS is still buggy (I played for a few minutes with an Acer Iconia at Best Buy and the launcher crashed a couple times - maybe this has improved with 3.01?), there are not many apps specifically designed for tablets, and all tablets seem to offer a very similar experience. So, for those of us who don't like Apple or don't want to buy an iPad for whatever reason, the best option is waiting for the next generation of Android tablets, isn't it?

My ideal tablet would be a portable document editor, but I don't think tablets are still there, so it would be mostly a toy for me. Sure, I would like to do some light editing from time to time, but I already own a netbook and I'd probably keep using it.

[carld]

The immaturity of Android is one reason I'm waiting to see a tablet from Amazon. I at least have some hope that they'll do things right. The iPad2 gets many things right, but I just refuse to get chained into Apple's system.

[tubemonkey]

The only reason I have an Android tablet now is because the Nook Color was only $250.

To me, price is everything. I absolutely refuse to consider anything over $300.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by carld

The iPad2 gets many things right, but I just refuse to get chained into Apple's system.

I have both Android and iOS. I avoid being "chained" by only downloading free content.

[covfam]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I have both Android and iOS. I avoid being "chained" by only downloading free content.

Be careffull google has already publicly talking about reigning in thier Android OS with tighter regulations because of thier frustrations with there currently being 7-8 versions of the android OS out there and when they put out an update/security every other device manufacturer greatly delays or does not update the OS, its because every device manufacturer adds thier own bells and wistle that are usually incompatible with googles OS updates. the other complaint google has talked about is making sure all android devices have access to googles marketplace as well as the device manufacturers marketplace.

Currently on alot of android devices they only have access to thier device manufacturers market place and the only way to get to the android market place is to "root the device".

While people whine at the 30% cut apple gets from app sales they conveniently leave out that app developers only get 70% of thier app sales too. the other 30% gets divided between the carriers and google. its just worded a lil differently but app developers on both devices lose a 30% cut.

dont get me wrong android has alot of potential. but google no longer wishes it to be as open as it was and are planing to clamp down on things and devs lose just as much money on android currently as they do apple.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by covfam

the other complaint google has talked about is making sure all android devices have access too googles marketplace as well as the device manufacturers marketplace.

Some of that is Google's fault. Many devices are locked out by Google because they don't have certain hardware features like a camera or GPS.

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by carld

The immaturity of Android is one reason I'm waiting to see a tablet from Amazon. I at least have some hope that they'll do things right. The iPad2 gets many things right, but I just refuse to get chained into Apple's system.

That's the problem... Amazon will "get it right" in as much as the underlying Android OS "is right". Google stumbled when they released Honeycomb which by their own admission wasn't quite ready for primetime. The lack of a tablet-optimized version of Android has caused tablet makers to shoehorn and cobble together (primarily 2.1 and 2.2) non-tablet Android versions. The result, a less than polished offering.

I don't think that there will be an Android tablet on par with the iPad2 until Ice Cream Sandwich is released and optimized for a particular tablet.

I own an Android smartphone, an Android tablet (rooted nook color), as well as an iPod Touch and iPad 2. I do not feel "chained into Apple's system".

Virtually all of the most useful apps that I use are available for both ecosystems, and often free. And if the apps are different, they are able to share the data.

I think that sentiment of being chained is rooted more in emotion than it reality.

I agree with tubemonkey's sentiments regarding an Android tablet. The Nook Color, IMO, is the best Android tablet for the money. In some respects and for some purposes, it's better than an iPad.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by covfam

Be carfefull google has already publicly talking about reigning in thier Android OS with tighter regulations because of thier frustrations with there currently being 7-8 versions of the android OS out there and when they put out an update/security every other device manufacturer greatly delays or does not update the OS, because every device manufacturer adds thier own bells and wistle that are usually incompatible with googles OS updates.

This I totally agree with. Why Google ever allowed this is beyond me. It's their OS and they should have complete control over pushing out updates. The carriers need to be totally cut out of this procedure. When it's time for 2.x to be released, all compatible devices should get it at the same time; and from Google, not the carriers.

[covfam]

imho android has promises. but imho if apple doesnt do some regulating and forcing device manufacturers to actually update and have at least one centeralized market acess "like adroid market" then i fear the "open" android will eventually become what unix is. unix and its various offshoots is very good. but mainstream does not touch it at all except apples OSX & IOS.

Android is based off of linux wich in turn is based off of Unix as well but if you keep it too open you will get what happened to linux (only techies use it)

you need to streamline it and make it sexy and user friendly "dont confuse it with techie friendly"

Currrently apples version of unix is so popular not just because of the brand but because 60 year old non techies can use it fairly easy.
Android on the otherhand IS much more difficult for non techies to get into and use and i find that its hard for the techies and computer literate crowed to understand that. what google needs to do is make android both hacker friendly AND mass public friendly wich they can if they can stop confusing the two.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by covfam

imho android has promises. but imho if apple doesnt do some regulating and forcing device manufacturers to actually update and have at least one centeralized market acess "like adroid market" then i fear the "open" android will eventually become what unix is. unix and its various offshoots is very good. but mainstream does not touch it at all except apples OSX & IOS.

Android is based off of linux wich in turn is based off of Unix as well but if you keep it too open you will get what happened to linux (only techies use it)

you need to streamline it and make it sexy and user friendly "dont confuse it with techie friendly"

Currrently apples version of unix is so popular not just because of the brand but because 60 year old non techies can use it fairly easy.
Android on the otherhand IS much more difficult for non techies to get into and use and i find that its hard for the techies and computer literate crowed to understand that. what google needs to do is make android both hacker friendly AND mass public friendly wich they can if they can stop confusing the two.

I never bought into that or never truely understood this thought process that somehow Android is soo difficult and complicated to use. One could argue that is some area's it's actually much easier to use than an iPhone. This may be odd to hear...... but on every Android handset's home page are icons clearly labeled what they are "Text, Browse, Market, Voicemail etc. I mean you don't need a degree from MIT to know you hit the icon marked Text to send a text message or touch the icon marked browse to browse the web. Nor do you only need t be a techie to realilze you touch the icon shaped like a phone to make a phone call or the icon shaped like a person to pull up your contacts.

The fact you can customize multiple home pages with widgets and shortcuts actually makes using an Android phone MUCH MUCH easier than opposed to rifling through different pages on an iPhone.

Many Android features are really learn once and your done and lets be honest once you have a Gmail account your setup is alot easier than iOS. You enter your Gmail account and everything is done for you.

I actually used my father as a test subject on this whole "myth" that Android is so much more difficult to use as compared to the iPhone. and trust me you can't get anymore techno phobia than my father. I still have to drag and drop songs onto his player.

I asked him to make a phone call and to which button to press, he knew right away.
I asked him which icon to press when wanting to send a text. he said the one that says text, Im not that stupid. Same for browsing the internet. I asked him if he wanted to open an app what do you do. I show him once where the app launcher was and that's all that it took.

Now if someone who never used an iPhone would they now enough you need to keep swiping left to right all the way to the end to send a text? Not really.

I never bought into the Apple distortion Reality that somehow that the only people who can used Android are techie geeks . Love the myth though, makes me feel like rocket scientest around my iPhone friends. "Ohhh look at me I know how to create a widget on one of my home pages, I must be brilliant" LOL
*if they only knew all I did was long pressed my home page and my options clearly marked and labled came up* but why ruin a good myth.

[susan_cassidy]

The reasons I bought first, an iPod Touch, then an iPad, is that first, no small-sized Android (or other OS) seemed to exist without requiring a smartphone voice and data plan (they want to sell me a huge number of voice minutes, when I use perhaps 8 minutes a month). I used to have a Sony Clie, and loved it (it died).

Also, I could not find all the apps I wanted on an Android device. For example, there are still no good astronomy apps available for Android, certainly not at the level of some of those available for iOS. There's no 800-pound gorilla of a single company urging developers to write/convert apps for Android.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

The reasons I bought first, an iPod Touch, then an iPad, is that first, no small-sized Android (or other OS) seemed to exist without requiring a smartphone voice and data plan (they want to sell me a huge number of voice minutes, when I use perhaps 8 minutes a month). I used to have a Sony Clie, and loved it (it died).

Also, I could not find all the apps I wanted on an Android device. For example, there are still no good astronomy apps available for Android, certainly not at the level of some of those available for iOS. There's no 800-pound gorilla of a single company urging developers to write/convert apps for Android.

no good astronomy apps? so GoogleSky and the the nasa app's don't cut it?

oh well to each his own as they say

[carld]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I have both Android and iOS. I avoid being "chained" by only downloading free content.

But Apple already restricts what you can do with your tablet, and it appears that things are only getting more restrictive. That's what I mean by chained.

Regardless if anyone else feels chained in or not, I know that I would. That's why I've written off the iPad, as nice as the hardware is. Whether I'll stick with that or not, or break down and buy an iPad2 6 months from now I have no idea. But, I just don't like what Apple is doing, and don't intend to get involved in their system.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

This I totally agree with. Why Google ever allowed this is beyond me. It's their OS and they should have complete control over pushing out updates.

You can't both want Android to be open source and not tied in to one company, and want Google to have complete control over it. Open source means that other companies can take it and do things you might not want them to.