Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
iPad, netbooks, and Nook Color.
Apple pays $230 to manufacture a $500 16GB 10" WiFi iPad. B&N pays $xxx to manufacture a $250 8GB 7" WiFi Nook Color. Outside of app store access, both devices are fairly comparable. Hack the Color and you get apps. Netbooks, on the other hand, are more powerful and far more versatile at only $250~350 in price.
I'm looking for a netbook replacement for personal travel use - web browsing, social, video, audio, photo, and reading. Enterprise and PDF functionality are irrelevant functions for me. I fail to see any advantage of the iPad or Galaxy Tab over the Nook Color.
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Without going into details:
$ 230 may be the manufacturing costs of iPad. But the total costs, including R&D, overhead and last but not least taxes (!!!) will be way higher.
Seemingly huge margins of 50% for hardware manufacturers eventually lead to way less than 10% EBIT.
And netbooks are more powerful? I don't have one. And I don't want one.
But I've had a powerful UMPC.
Samsung Q1, costing $ 1200 only 2 years ago.
I barely use it since I've got iPad and the likes. "Instant on" is one argument. I've answered emails on iPad, before my UMPC even would have started.
The only real disadvantages, in my opinion, are lack of (professional) applications and notebook capability. I never would draft proposals or presentations on iPad. But I wouldn't do so on netbooks or UMPCs either.
I can't compare to nook color. I've thought about it, but I'll probably pass because of the childish "signature design element". To me, it looks strange and even may harm stability.
I've got the opposite view of you: I fail to see the niche for nook color in comparison to the existing Android tablets.
If you aim for "any" tablet below $ 250, it seems to be the only choice.
But if you choose your gadget and then ask yourself, whether it's worth the money, you'll probably find arguments for all the gadgets mentioned.
Personally, I still remember paying € 4000 for notebooks only 5 years ago, so I don't have any problems at all with these prices. Quite the contrary, I often wish for higher quality and even would accept a higher price...