Have Amazon priced other Android manufacturers out of the tablet market?

[vxf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

People are paying. Samsung are the best-selling maker of Android tablets world-wide.

You guys are right. I guess... well... I'll shut up.

[vxf]

Originally Posted by Graham

Samsung tablets are outselling Amazon tablets by about 2 to 1.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/2/321...nation-q2-2012

Graham

Mea culpa. I definitely had different numbers in mind. I did not think Samsung was doing that good.

[Barty]

I don't think we should presume Amazon is breaking even. First you need to add $15 to remove the ads to make the price comparison fair. Maybe they don't have the same margin, but I think they're making money. In fact, didn't Bezos himself say the device division is expected to make money and not be subsidized by the retail business?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Stormchild

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Superslim-Mu...7183556&sr=8-7

Try that one just for starters. If you want any more proof, try looking for yourself. Ebay is even better.

That is neither half the price nor better specs.
If we're comparing to the new Fire, it's a fraction of the resolution, half the ram, in addition to the factors that Harry mentioned, and it's about 2/3 the price.

Are there cheaper tablets that might suit one's needs? Sure. But half the price with better specs? Figment.

[Stormchild]

Originally Posted by ApK

That is neither half the price nor better specs.
If we're comparing to the new Fire, it's a fraction of the resolution, half the ram, in addition to the factors that Harry mentioned, and it's about 2/3 the price.

Are there cheaper tablets that might suit one's needs? Sure. But half the price with better specs? Figment.

It does not compare if you talking about the Fire HD. Up against the standard Fire it compares very well, in fact with micro Sd card slot and USB host capabilities I think it has a significant edge. The one advantage that the Fire has is the ability to stream Lovefilm. Something us ordinary Tablet owners can't do. As far as price goes, there are cheaper but the one I linked to, which took all of a minute to find, is £70 against the Fire which is £130, so not not quite half the price but not far off.
It is all irrelevant anyway. It was never my intention to start a playground argument with a couple of Amazon Fanboys. I simply gave one response to the OP's original question. That point is still valid and my Dad IS bigger than yours.

ps What is your opinion on the original point?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Stormchild

It does not compare if you talking about the Fire HD. Up against the standard Fire it compares very well

I was speaking of the standard Fire.

ps What is your opinion on the original point?

"No."
To elaborate: No, what Amazon did is expand the market to a size that the other manufactures could have never hoped to see (if they kept on as they were).

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by Stormchild

It does not compare if you talking about the Fire HD. Up against the standard Fire it compares very well, in fact with micro Sd card slot and USB host capabilities I think it has a significant edge. The one advantage that the Fire has is the ability to stream Lovefilm. Something us ordinary Tablet owners can't do. As far as price goes, there are cheaper but the one I linked to, which took all of a minute to find, is £70 against the Fire which is £130, so not not quite half the price but not far off.
It is all irrelevant anyway. It was never my intention to start a playground argument with a couple of Amazon Fanboys. I simply gave one response to the OP's original question. That point is still valid and my Dad IS bigger than yours.

ps What is your opinion on the original point?

I'm not an Amazon fanboy (I really don't like the Fire, or the Kindles in general), but I have to say, that when it comes to sheer specs, much of the lower priced tablets really are crap. The average person may not notice a huge difference, but anyone who pushes their hardware any, the differences become VERY apparent. Plus, when it comes to processors, you have to factor in more than clock speed.

For instance, I have a chinese tablet that I was given, that had a 800mhz processor and 256mb of RAM. My old, now retired, MyTouch3g has a 533mhz processor and 192mb of RAM. Now, normally you'd go "Oh, that tablet should run circles around that old phone", but it isn't the case at all. The Tablet lags far behind the phone. When I've tried loading basic webpages, the phone (using Wifi) will load them several seconds before the tablet (again, wifi). Many of the chinese no name devices use lower quality parts.

[Stormchild]

I give up. You all clearly know better. As I am going over to my daughters tomorrow, I will be sure to tell her how crap her Tablets are and that she must be mistaken about how well they work. My apologies for even daring to suggest otherwise.

[Penforhire]

I think some manufacturers don't understand that making their product desirable includes major factors beyond the hardware. Call it ecosystem. This includes current content, accessories, and future content (developers committed to optimizing for that platform). Amazon and Apple have robust ecosystems. You want a case for your device? You have an abundance of choice. You want to buy some music or a movie? Same deal.

Android? Ecosystem is weaker but competitive. HP or other independents? Big zero on ecosystem.

Android's initial strength, open design, is one of its long-term weaknesses. Too many hardware designs so software is rarely optimized for the size, processor, video processor, etcetera. OS updates are rolled out randomly to non-Google devices (since they seemingly have to be tailored and certified for each device). The OS is fractured among many devices so saying something like 'Android outsells iOS" is literally true but the meaning is not what it sounds like. What one line of Android phones outsells the iPhone? They don't.

Amazon was able to make a forceful entry into the tablet market because of their content, their ecosystem. Enough volume of a given device sold also tends to solve the accessories issue.

[Hellmark]

Can you give the model of you daughter's tablets? There are some good low end devices. The problem is the vast majority suck. So many companies flood the market with junk, makes it hard to find the good stuff.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by GrantCostello

The Fire vs Pure-android debate comes down to choice.

Fire = better kindle reading software, cheaper movies (though more expensive apps). The new HD 8.6 inch tablet is supposedly more powerful too, but I'm not convinced until I've seen benchmarks.

Pure Android = The full google ecosystem, can do pretty much anything a fire can do, plus more. (Maybe) a smoother OS experience with functionality and speed. But for older people the OS may be a little harder to understand than the Fire-Android OS.

I suppose it comes down to the person and the need.

- Grant Costello

Sometimes, choice is a bitch. . .

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Barty

I don't think we should presume Amazon is breaking even. First you need to add $15 to remove the ads to make the price comparison fair. Maybe they don't have the same margin, but I think they're making money. In fact, didn't Bezos himself say the device division is expected to make money and not be subsidized by the retail business?

You only need to 'add $15' if ads bother you. I think most people will never pay that $15 (at least I wouldn't). And $15 won't remove ads you encounter when browsing web sites, using free apps, etc. So I don't see the point.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Amazon and Apple have robust ecosystems. You want a case for your device? You have an abundance of choice. You want to buy some music or a movie? Same deal.

Android? Ecosystem is weaker but competitive. HP or other independents? Big zero on ecosystem.

I think you are misinformed. Google has a larger book selection and App selection than Amazon. Amazon has a better movie catalog and music. Both have online storage and music storage, but the music storage/streaming on Google is far better than Amazon. To say one is better is naive, they are different and therefore will suit one person better than another.

Originally Posted by Penforhire

What one line of Android phones outsells the iPhone? They don't.

The S3 has been outselling the i4 for a few months now.


Amazon did a great job of showing Google how an ecosystem need to be rolled out with the product. They did it by offering a solid product, at a great price and unifying all of their services.

Google had all of the services in place, but it did not have them unified. The Nexus7 was Google's attempt to follow suit and Amazon noticed. If you saw Amazon's event they where aggressively attacking both the iPad and Nexus7. Last year there was no mention of any Android tablet because there was not threat.


I think the battle is far from over they are all stepping up their game.

=X=