MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - A frustrated CEO speaks: Why Android Tablets are not Selling

jocampo · 05-19-2011, 10:51 AM

I'm not a "brand" lover person. If a company produces a product that I like, I will buy it. For instance, like MS-SQL, but I don't use Windows at home, only Ubuntu Linux. So I am not into Apple vs Google debates.

Having said that, I think that 10" Android tablets have not sold very well for these three reasons:

-Price
-Operating System itself
-Available apps

Price is quite obvious.
Those who went ahead an bought most recent Android tablets, paid a big price, including myself with GT. Not complaining about it, but for about $400.00 you can get a 1st gen iPad which already give you access to thousands of iPad apps, not the same for Honeycomb.

Here in USA, the economy is still struggling. So tablets are no more than expensive toys for people who can afford those. I consider myself blessed (good job, good salary) but you need to think twice when expending more than $500.00 on a device that can't do everything a netbook does.

Operating System
Lot of arguments and debate about this topic but the true is that Honeycomb was not ready for the market yet. It does not matter if was final, pre-release, beta, whatever version. People want and like something that just works. And in my opinion, paying for something now, and get all the features later, is unacceptable and a poor marketing strategy; lot of people did not buy that idea and are waiting. To me, it was clear that they rushed Xoom because iPad 2 release.

Available apps.
One of the reason why I am happy with my Galaxy Tab, besides the size, is that there are a lot of available apps for it. When I say available, I'm referring to apps that have been already optimized for that screen or they just don't look weird on the 7" screen. 10" is a big jump! So even though you can run and install lot of apps, if the app. was not specifically designed for Honeycomb you are not getting what you paid for... so, what's the deal? If I paid for Honeycomb, I want an app that is ready and look nice for Honeycomb. I am paying for a bigger screen!

Make a $500 or $600 10" screen tablet, and more and better Honeycomb apps and I will think about it, even selling my iPad 2. Meantime, thanks but no thanks, I'll keep enjoying what I have.

05-19-2011, 10:51 AM	#72
jocampo Layback feline Posts: 3,034 Karma: 6980745 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"	I'm not a "brand" lover person. If a company produces a product that I like, I will buy it. For instance, like MS-SQL, but I don't use Windows at home, only Ubuntu Linux. So I am not into Apple vs Google debates. Having said that, I think that 10" Android tablets have not sold very well for these three reasons: -Price -Operating System itself -Available apps Price is quite obvious. Those who went ahead an bought most recent Android tablets, paid a big price, including myself with GT. Not complaining about it, but for about $400.00 you can get a 1st gen iPad which already give you access to thousands of iPad apps, not the same for Honeycomb. Here in USA, the economy is still struggling. So tablets are no more than expensive toys for people who can afford those. I consider myself blessed (good job, good salary) but you need to think twice when expending more than $500.00 on a device that can't do everything a netbook does. Operating System Lot of arguments and debate about this topic but the true is that Honeycomb was not ready for the market yet. It does not matter if was final, pre-release, beta, whatever version. People want and like something that just works. And in my opinion, paying for something now, and get all the features later, is unacceptable and a poor marketing strategy; lot of people did not buy that idea and are waiting. To me, it was clear that they rushed Xoom because iPad 2 release. Available apps. One of the reason why I am happy with my Galaxy Tab, besides the size, is that there are a lot of available apps for it. When I say available, I'm referring to apps that have been already optimized for that screen or they just don't look weird on the 7" screen. 10" is a big jump! So even though you can run and install lot of apps, if the app. was not specifically designed for Honeycomb you are not getting what you paid for... so, what's the deal? If I paid for Honeycomb, I want an app that is ready and look nice for Honeycomb. I am paying for a bigger screen! Make a $500 or $600 10" screen tablet, and more and better Honeycomb apps and I will think about it, even selling my iPad 2. Meantime, thanks but no thanks, I'll keep enjoying what I have. Last edited by jocampo; 05-19-2011 at 10:54 AM.