An editorial on iPad sales and competition

[Torwan]

The main flaw of tablets is this: Use case.

A good tablet is almost as expensive as a low-cost notebook. However, the notebook can do everything the tablet can do as well, most things even better, except mobile internet. The tablet is easier to carry around. But that is not a really strong argument. Name anything a tablet can do, you'll find a similarly priced notebook, that can do it as well or better.
On a fair with a lot of tech-savvy guys, someone used an iPad1 as a tray for two bottles of water. Someone pointed at him and said: "Finally a use-case for the iPad." Reaction: A lot of laughter and nodding along...

Second flaw: People who may buy it

Normal people don't buy tablets. They buy desktops or notebooks. Only tech-fans buy tablets, but they are a minority. These people usually already have a smartphone which offers the same as a tablet does, only smaller. So even in this group you'll find people who'll say: "Why? I already have a device that can do it..."

Third: Apple iPad, the exception

Why does the iPad sell good? Because Apple has fans. No, real fanatics. They will throw away their iPhone4 if the iPhone5 arrives. Have you seen an Apple-fan who still uses an iPhone1? They will buy almost anything from Apple and call it "the coolest, best, most awesome thing ever". Have you ever heard someone talking about a Samsung- or Dell-thing like that? Or ever seen someone saying "I have Windows 7. It's the best thing on the planet."
This is why the iPad sells well...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Torwan

A good tablet is almost as expensive as a low-cost notebook.

Actually a good tablet will generally be considerably more expensive than even a decent notebook. I paid considerably more for my iPad than I did for my notebook.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I'm all for using the best hardware that I can afford at any given moment.

I'm all in favor of paying a reasonable price for a tablet. Even though I can afford to pay more, I see no need wasting my money on overpriced tablets like the iPad and Galaxy Tab.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Only if you count by the OS that the devices run. If you count by manufacturer, it's still number one by a long, long distance.

Counting by OS is the best way to measure, since Apple won't allow anything but an Apple device to run on iOS.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by kjk

As Best Buy and HP are currently finding out, I guess.

True, but my point was that the ipads shipped to Amazon have to be considered something. And if the procedure isn't considered a sale, then what is it?

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Another editorial: 'More Evidence That There’s No “Tablet Market”'

I think that the problem is here:

HP’s rapid move to cut the TouchPad’s price apparently hasn’t goosed demand, at least sufficiently: according to an analyst Hesseldahl quotes, consumers think that the price might tumble even further. And so rather than buy a cheap TouchPad now, they’re waiting for even cheaper TouchPads that could be in the works.

This isn't going to end well.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

...and again. It's a media pile-on.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0...tech&seid=auto

So first of all, it's 98% US. Then:

When asked if Google could compete with Apple by offering tablets running Android software, Mr. Noland said, “Unless a product comes out that is half the price of the iPad, and comes with good enough bells of whistles, then its highly unlikely.”

They want an ipad at half the price. Or if you think of it in another way, they expect the ipad to be priced at twice what it's worth, and the rest is for the Apple brand.

[djgreedo]

The Amazon tablet will be the first non-Apple tablet of the current 'large PDA' type to have easy access to a full ecosystem (Kindle books, Amazon MP3, video on demand, Amazon's Android app store). No other current tablet has anything close to the iTunes ecosystem, and for most people that is a big factor. I know you can access all that stuff on any Android tablet, and often more, but iTunes makes it SIMPLE (yes, horrible, but simple).

I heard that Android now accounts for 20% of the tablet market. It's only a matter of time before that becomes 60-70% - once manufacturers start to compete on ecosystem and not just the technology. Some of these tech companies need to learn that Apple is beating them by focusing on marketing and branding and that making products with better specs and functionality means nothing to their new target market - people who don't understand or don't care about specs and functionality.

Windows 8 will be interesting. A lot of people seem to be waiting for a fully functional tablet (i.e. that can access the full OS features and have lots more customisability and options) that is easy to use without sacrificing functionality. By comparison to Windows 8's tablet interface both iOS and Android look pathetically outdated and complicated (I watched a friend recently find a game on his iPad - he had to scroll through about 5 screens of icons all in rows...in 2011!). That said, if Amazon announce a decent tablet I will probably buy it even though I find Android kind of horrible after having used Windows Phone 7 for the last 6 months. I may find that I don't need a more capable Windows tablet later on, and I'm confident that anything Amazon make will be among the better of the Android options (assuming it exists and is running on Android).

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by stonetools

There are 100,000 apps in the App Store for the iPad, versus 1000 or so from Android and only a few hundred for the Touchpad and the Playbook.

You only have access to 1000 apps from Android on Smartphone?

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Torwan

Name anything a tablet can do, you'll find a similarly priced notebook, that can do it as well or better.

Touchscreen, and all the functionality that comes from that.

[djgreedo]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

So first of all, it's 98% US. Then:

They want an ipad at half the price. Or if you think of it in another way, they expect the ipad to be priced at twice what it's worth, and the rest is for the Apple brand.

Apple have priced the iPad very differently to how they price their computers. That is, they have not used off the shelf components and charged 40% more than a comparable product using the same parts. So Android tablet manufacturers do not have the price advantage that PC makers have.

Apple are shifting away from being a hardware manufacturer to being a content providing middle-man. Steve Jobs is smart enough to know that the average iPad owner is going to buy a lot of stuff from iTunes to go with their iPad, and he's made sure that all of that content has to go through Apple and have 30% extracted.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by djgreedo

Apple have priced the iPad very differently to how they price their computers. That is, they have not used off the shelf components and charged 40% more than a comparable product using the same parts. So Android tablet manufacturers do not have the price advantage that PC makers have.

But the buyers don't know that. They assume that half of the price is for the brand, so they expect that everything else should be cheaper.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

You only have access to 1000 apps from Android on Smartphone?

Only a 1000 specifically made for Android tablets.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by stonetools

Only a 1000 specifically made for Android tablets.

I'll have to check later, but I'm pretty sure that I have access to more than that on my Archos tablet.

[stonetools]

The main flaw of tablets is this: Use case.

A good tablet is almost as expensive as a low-cost notebook. However, the notebook can do everything the tablet can do as well, most things even better, except mobile internet. The tablet is easier to carry around. But that is not a really strong argument. Name anything a tablet can do, you'll find a similarly priced notebook, that can do it as well or better.
On a fair with a lot of tech-savvy guys, someone used an iPad1 as a tray for two bottles of water. Someone pointed at him and said: "Finally a use-case for the iPad." Reaction: A lot of laughter and nodding along...

THat's an argument that works for geeks. The average consumer finds the Ipad and the Ios ecosystem much more fluid and intuitive than, say, a netbook running Linux and the tablet form factor far superior to the netbook for watching movies, playing games, and otherwise enjoying content.

Second flaw: People who may buy it

Normal people don't buy tablets. They buy desktops or notebooks. Only tech-fans buy tablets, but they are a minority. These people usually already have a smartphone which offers the same as a tablet does, only smaller. So even in this group you'll find people who'll say: "Why? I already have a device that can do it..."

Actually, its the average guy who has been buying the Ipad, over the techie types who have saying repeatedly, how useless and overpriced the iPad is . You are just one of the many techies the average consumer has been ignoring.

Why does the iPad sell good? Because Apple has fans. No, real fanatics. They will throw away their iPhone4 if the iPhone5 arrives. Have you seen an Apple-fan who still uses an iPhone1? They will buy almost anything from Apple and call it "the coolest, best, most awesome thing ever". Have you ever heard someone talking about a Samsung- or Dell-thing like that? Or ever seen someone saying "I have Windows 7. It's the best thing on the planet."
This is why the iPad sells well...

Lots of non-Apple fans have been buying the iPad. Often its the only Apple device they have ever owned.

Man, you are a poster boy for the "How wrong were they guy" crowd. Let me guess. You also predicted that the iPhone would fail...