[mgmueller]

I've exchanged my Sony Tablet S (16GB to 32GB because of the limitations in the SD-card [=no App2SD]) in German Saturn Market 10 days ago.
The sales guy gave me an interesting and (at least to me) surprising info:
The return rate of Android tablets in Saturn Market in Germany "is enormous".
He didn't have exact figures "but somewhere in the range of at least 30%".
They accept those returns without questions asked, but typically they ask for kind of a re-stocking fee of ca. € 50.
The most common reason for returning the tablets: "Customers expected a Windows like experience and are extremely frustrated when they can't do lots of professional tasks on these tablets. For some weeks now we very intensively inform every customer what to expect and what not".
And: "Return rate of iPads is close to zero. We have 2 theories for that: a.) iPads are more expensive, so customers think more carefully about it and b.) Apple seems to have a more enthusiastic and loyal fanbase".

To me, this all came as a huge surprise.
First of all, I'm surprised about a significant return rate anyway. Everybody should know what to expect by now.
Second of all, I didn't expect (actually never have thought about it) significant differences between iPad and Android. Maybe it's because the Android landscape is more diverse? Maybe a € 400 tablet is an impulse buy, whereas an € 700 iPad takes more consideration? Maybe Android is more interesting for the gadget freaks, willing to experiment and tune? Whereas iPad is more closed and limited, but on the other hand kind of "simple and clean"?...