Table(t) Mountain

[Rocket-Boy]

TJ99, if those features on your list really made a difference (made Android tablets better than iPads) why aren't people buying Android tablets instead? Because there are more to this than a list of additional features and that is exactly what Android OEM's miss. A Chery car with aircon, ABS, and whatnot is not a BMW. Something special is needed that will make a tablet buyer stop and say "wait a minute ... ".

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People are sheep, Apple products are not better but are perceived to be.
I have an iphone, its great and all and the app developers are still better than android devs. So the only reason I can find to be on the apple product is for the apps.
I have had android phones in the past and I loved them but most of the apps I wanted were on iphone and not on android.

 

[BeVonk!]

People are sheep, Apple products are not better but are perceived to be.

Managing perceptions is what marketing is all about. The company that does this best wins. Apple are the current masters. They know that glass and metal create the perception of quality and reliability, and that is important. Why can't the Samsungs of our world get this right? They keep throwing plastic at us and then have the audacity to demand to get the same respect. I love the feel and weight of my SGS2 ... it really works well for me ... but I do feel it should have had a metal case. HTC does somewhat better but they still don't reach the heights of Apple. The new Sensation is not a beautiful device in my opinion. It looks cheap. The SGS2 looks and even feels cheap.

My iPad 1 is one solid piece of aluminium ... no joints, no squeaks, no plastic giving way when pressed. That is what people want. It creates the perception of quality and reliability. Plastic will never do so. Why Apple stopped making/selling the polycarbonate iBook.

 

[Rocket-Boy]

Managing perceptions is what marketing is all about. The company that does this best wins. Apple are the current masters. They know that glass and metal create the perception of quality and reliability, and that is important. Why can't the Samsungs of our world get this right? They keep throwing plastic at us and then have the audacity to demand to get the same respect. I love the feel and weight of my SGS2 ... it really works well for me ... but I do feel it should have had a metal case. HTC does somewhat better but they still don't reach the heights of Apple. The new Sensation is not a beautiful device in my opinion. It looks cheap. The SGS2 looks and even feels cheap.

My iPad 1 is one solid piece of aluminium ... no joints, no squeaks, no plastic giving way when pressed. That is what people want. It creates the perception of quality and reliability. Plastic will never do so. Why Apple stopped making/selling the polycarbonate iBook.

I have to agree with that. Apple market themselves better than the others, its why they win.
Also their build quality is amazing. We have some macbook pro's at work and those things are amazing in terms of build. What is not amazing about them is the price vs specs though.
The HTC Desire that I had a while back was an aluminium body and its build quality was absolutely amazing. I cant say the same about Samsung though, their phones have always felt plastic and cheap to me.

 

[BeVonk!]

"Plastic" makes sense to engineers that knows the real qualities/properties of materials. Its strength to weight ratio is excellent and from an engineering perspective it makes sense. Problem is perceptions. To Joe Public a R 6000 + smartphone should not be encased in "plastic" but metal. That the "plastic" may be better does not matter. It's the perception that matters. Some companies never understand the importance of ART and EMOTION in all of this. Art and emotion matters. Get artists to work alongside engineers. Steve Jobs care a lot about fonts. He cares about the art and emotion. That is why Apple is so successful. But despite the obviousness of this some companies don't get it ... and it is specially problematic amongst companies in the Far-East. The rigidity of their social systems spill over to their work/designs.

Funnily enough the "zen" minimalistic principles applied by Apple comes from the Far-East ... and this excludes "false materials ("plastic")" and "bling-bling". Maybe the designers in Korea think we are all into American "Hoodsterism" where the bling makes the man.

 

[Electron1]

+1 Bevonk! for great article.
This is what I believe is valid for the Tablet market at the moment. Right now if you are looking for a quality device that just works, does not require any technical knowledge to configure, and the apps are simple to install and use, choose an iPad. The iPad market is so big in comparison to any other tablet, anything being designed for Tablets is going to be iPad compatible. The only thing making it redundant or out of date is Apple itself (this is an issue as now already iPad3 is on the way soon).

Sure, there are many limitations with it, it is not a desktop replacement. If you need computing power you simply remote in to your desktop (or a VM or whatever your company provides or will allow). The competing manufacturers and OS's need to up their game if they want to compete.

 

[Pavan]

imagine if Apple came out with a range of smartphones and tablets! Would dominate the market even more...

 

[w1z4rd]

Who's the king of Table(t) Mountain?

Apple ... and according to one industry analyst it will remain so for many years to come. I found an article today on BGR to be very insightful, mainly because it touches on recent comments made on this forum by Jannie Van Zyl. Jannie argued that Android's future is fragmented as OEM's will be forced to differentiate their offerings. Now read this: http://www.bgr.com/2011/08/09/dear-...+TheBoyGeniusReport+(BGR+|+Boy+Genius+Report)

I agree. Google and its Android OEM's need to differntiate not just Android tablet offerings in general but their own tablet offerings in particular. What do they currently offer that Apple doesn't? iPads are very affordable and Apple is a highly sought-after brand. As the BGR article states, many buy iPads just to own a serious Apple product. The market cares little for iPad competitors. Unless they come up with something very different. And that is where the fragmentation is unavoidable. Google, by reigning Android in from ICS onwards, might be heading in the wrong direction. Maybe fragmenation is the best thing for Android. Google can always offer their own "pure Android" hardware (made by the OEM's) but the best thing Google could do is to let the OEM's run free. Real differentiation may be the only way to tople the reigning king of Table(t) Mountain.

500 000 new android devices every day being activated. I think you suffer from blind sided wishful thinking I find people who use the fragmentation "story" hilarious

Android is killing IOS.

 

[bwana]

Android is killing IOS.

In the tablet market Apple is still eating everyone's lunch.

 

[w1z4rd]

In the tablet market Apple is still eating everyone's lunch.

For now. Once enough cheap but decent Android tablets enter the market its tickets. This is what is going to happen, whether apple fans like it or not. I know some of the manufactures are just waiting on more tablet support in Android to release their products (like Motorola). Its the natural evolution of tech.

 

[bwana]

For now. Once enough cheap but decent Android tablets enter the market its tickets. This is what is going to happen, whether apple fans like it or not. I know some of the manufactures are just waiting on more tablet support in Android to release their products (like Motorola). Its the natural evolution of tech.

Industry experts don't see this happening for 2-3 years. Take motorola - last quarter they shipped 440,000 Xoom tablets to retailers compared to the 9million iPads Apple sold. They've got a lot of catching up to do.

Fortunately both platforms have critical mass so neither are going anywhere - competition promotes innovation so it's all good for the consumer at the end of the day.

 

[BeVonk!]

With the Series 9 notebooks Samsung is showing great potential ... but then bomb all the good work with the price tag (> $1150). One can get the latest Macbook Air for R 9000 (> $999). For Samsung to get traction in this game they have to beat Apple on price (but still maintain the Series 9 quality ... a tough ask yes). The perception is that Apple is an expensive brand and therefore the brand to be seen with (perception of success) ... why then pay MORE for a Samsung that does not create the same desirable perceptions? The specs might even be better but the price isn't (nor the image).

At the price levels Apple products are coming to market these days their competition is in trouble. Bring items to market at a loss to get traction (and harvest profits later)? Can Samsung sell the Series 9 for the same price or cheaper, and still make their investors smile?

 

[w1z4rd]

I see that IOS has lost 20% of the tablet market share in the last 12 months. Fantastic results for something thats ganna dominate us right?

Hectic, also looks like Google will be converting the source code for Android tablets into FOSS. Epic!

 

[bwana]

I see that IOS has lost 20% of the tablet market share in the last 12 months. Fantastic results for something thats ganna dominate us right?

Hectic, also looks like Google will be converting the source code for Android tablets into FOSS. Epic!

Of course they have - what other tablets were there besides Apple's?

I think an interesting measure of Androids success is that the fandroids have become as annoying as fanbois

 

[Elimentals]

Of course they have - what other tablets were there besides Apple's?

I think an interesting measure of Androids success is that the fandroids have become as annoying as fanbois

LOL so true.

@Bevonk. If you dont like your SGS2 go return it and get an iPhone no one forced you to get it, the cheap plastic has been used in phones from the start, hell I remember my Plastic Motorola 5200 and all the plastic Nokias I had, all brilliant phones at the time I had them. It was done for a reason, might be cost or weight but many people prefer it over the "exceptionally well designed" iPhone that you have to buy a cover for els you lose calls or it cracks into a million pieces when it falls off the desk.

As for the Android Tablets that no one is buying, I guess looking at the 8250* sold per day is an indication that nobody is buying them. Yes sure its not the same number as iPad but it sure as hell is not nobody. Why dont we just pick what we like and let the chips fall where they like.

* 1.5% Honeycomb market share at 550 000 activation's per day. This excludes all the tablets like Nooks, HTC Flyers, Samsung 7" and other tablets not on 3.*

 

[BeVonk!]

ghoti, Apple sells iPads as fast as they can make them. There are waiting lists and those on the waiting lists are willing to wait despite Android alternatives being freely available (in general). Android tablets can even be had for free on cell contracts, but most still prefer to pay for a device that they have to wait for. The market wants iPads ... it's an iPad market, not a tablet one, and unless Google and its OEM's come with something special it will remain that way. What I'm saying is that Google/Android can end the reign of Apple IF they come up with something that the market clearly prefers over Apple/iPad. That is the challenge for Google/Android.

Your argument is that cheaper Android tablets will win the day. Is price really the issue here? Is cheap what people want? Or are all the other things that Apple get right more important to the market. On sales volumes the cheaper products will dominate, but not in the hearts and minds of users. Cheap is always a compromise that every buyer wants to overcome (unless cheaper does not equate to lower quality and plastic ... my argument re the Series 9 notebook).

 

[BeVonk!]

Elimentals, if you actually read my posts you will see that I am happy with my plastic SGS2. The plastic do make sense. I like the feel and weight. I wrote about perceptions that matter.

 

[bwana]

As for the Android Tablets that no one is buying, I guess looking at the 8250* sold per day is an indication that nobody is buying them. Yes sure its not the same number as iPad but it sure as hell is not nobody. Why dont we just pick what we like and let the chips fall where they like.

/OT/
Just to satisfy my curiosity . . . [over] 9 million iPads sold last quarter. 91 days in a quarter means almost 99,000 ipads are being sold per day. That is a staggering number in my mind. Just thinking about the infrastructure necessary to keep up with that sort of demand. Kind of makes me wish I was an Apple stockholder.

 

[BeVonk!]

Look at the Nokia N9. That is how it should be done. Clean, solid, no bling-bling. It oozes style and quality. Now they need to make a tablet using the same principles.

 

[w1z4rd]

Of course they have - what other tablets were there besides Apple's?

I think an interesting measure of Androids success is that the fandroids have become as annoying as fanbois

Actually I was using figures that looks like they were presented by an optimistic Apple fanboi. : http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/04/ipad-to-dominate-tablet-market-until-2105.php

As much as you wish to pull droid users down to Apple`s religious levels, not ganna happen. I do however understand how important your faith is to you

 

[BeVonk!]

Why are Vespa scooters so desirable? Why do people pay so much more for them when much cheaper higher spec scooters made in China and India are readily available? You can even get scooters that look almost exactly like Vespa. I want a Vespa scooter and wish I could afford one. I don't want any of the much cheaper alternatives. With Apple it is the same ... only difference - but a key one - is that iPads are currently not more expensive but do provide the "Vespa" experience ... and even if they were to become far more expensive (like Vespa) they will still be the tablet to won (just like Vespa).