Table(t) Mountain

BeVonk!

BeVonk!

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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.
 
Interesting indeed.

ICS is set to consolidate the two OS's into one...namely Gingerbread and Honeycomb that will run on tablets and phones (even old ones). If you think about it...the base system and its built in features remain the same across the board really. What the OEM's do is basically slapping on a nicer GUI and perhaps a app here and there etc. If you take my Motorola and HTC for example. Once you go into the settings...its basically identical.
 
What I don't get is howcome Apple is the only company to design amazing products in terms of looks.

Their products look magnificent - why don't other companies also focus on looks?
 
Pooky said:
What I don't get is howcome Apple is the only company to design amazing products in terms of looks.

Their products look magnificent - why don't other companies also focus on looks?
Click to expand...

very true! even when you consider their entire product suite - tablets, handsets & computers... i think its a variety of factors, but I've always felt like Apple never rush their releases as others do when reacting to the market... Just my 2c :)
 
Pavan said:
very true! even when you consider their entire product suite - tablets, handsets & computers... i think its a variety of factors, but I've always felt like Apple never rush their releases as others do when reacting to the market... Just my 2c :)
Click to expand...

If other manufactures made prettier laptops I'm sure their sales would go up.
 
Nothing is stopping people like Samsung or HTC to make there own version of Android. Only request that Google makes is that if they change it they lose Android certification.

If you look at MIUI rom you will see Android that is not Android. It was created by a Chinese OEM for their phones and released(Open Source) for people to flash there own phones. Only limitation is it doesn't carry the Android Certification ie: They can not claim its running Android if they sell phones with it on. I saw some other OEM's that does the same like say Aliyun OS.

The only question is will people still buy them if they dont carry the name anymore?
 
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BeVonk! said:
What do they currently offer that Apple doesn't?
Click to expand...
Oh, off the top of my head:

Customisable launchers, keyboards, lockscreens etc
Replacable core apps such as dialers, phonebook, SMS etc
Widgets
A proper notification system
USB ports
Replacable batteries
Replaceable memory cards
Proper Bluetooth support
Proper multitasking support
Proper clipboard support
Cameras that are not from the Jules Verne era
Higher resolution displays
Support for programs developed by anyone, without jailbreaking
Ability to work completely independently of a PC running proprietary software
Google maps, Voice search, voice commands and text-to speech

and one or two other things that can be found with a bit of researching.

Oh, wait, who cares about actual, functional nonsense like that?
 
TJ99 said:
Oh, off the top of my head:

Customisable launchers, keyboards, lockscreens etc
Replacable core apps such as dialers, phonebook, SMS etc
Widgets
A proper notification system
USB ports
Replacable batteries
Replaceable memory cards
Proper Bluetooth support
Proper multitasking support
Proper clipboard support
Cameras that are not from the Jules Verne era
Higher resolution displays
Support for programs developed by anyone, without jailbreaking
Ability to work completely independently of a PC running proprietary software
Google maps, Voice search, voice commands and text-to speech

and one or two other things that can be found with a bit of researching.

Oh, wait, who cares about actual, functional nonsense like that?
Click to expand...

+ Free Google Navigation (official as of last week)
 
hmmm... very good points. Is it all just in the Apple branding/marketing and physical design then?
 
Pavan said:
hmmm... very good points. Is it all just in the Apple branding/marketing and physical design then?
Click to expand...

I could very well be wrong...but the way I see it is, Apple have historically always made their products rediculaaasly expensive and therefore had a niche market. If people saw you with a Apple then they knew you had either saved up for it since you were born or have a platinum credit card. Due to this Apple have become a "exclusive" brand....and marketing also played its role in this. Now when people see a product from Apple they automatically whizzz in their pants.
 
ocleroux said:
I could very well be wrong...but the way I see it is, Apple have historically always made their products rediculaaasly expensive and therefore had a niche market. If people saw you with a Apple then they knew you had either saved up for it since you were born or have a platinum credit card. Due to this Apple have become a "exclusive" brand....and marketing also played its role in this. Now when people see a product from Apple they automatically whizzz in their pants.
Click to expand...

Hahaha I think some of that is true in that when I see young people with Mac's I'm usually right in assuming they're pretentious design students with lots of money.

On the other hand, they are designed amazingly. The only reason I would buy and am buying an Apple laptop is because they look so so nice.
The other thing is the operating system really is so nice and fast and innovative with gestures etc.

It really is a good product.
 
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 ... ".

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyBroadband Android App
 
When I place my SGS2 and wife's iPhone 4 next to one another my immediate impression is:

SGS2 = amazing engineering, but why the plastic?
iPhone 4 = work of art, awesome materials, beautiful.

The Far-East designers love their plastic, never failing to make expensive things look cheap. If you didn't know the SGS2 was an expensive device you would think it is a cheap toy. Everbody that sees my SGS2 comment on the cheap plastic look/feel.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyBroadband Android App
 
Industrial designing in the Far-East is too much engineering and too little art. Very rigid. Very smart but not enough art.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyBroadband Android App
 
BeVonk! said:
When I place my SGS2 and wife's iPhone 4 next to one another my immediate impression is:

SGS2 = amazing engineering, but why the plastic?
iPhone 4 = work of art, awesome materials, beautiful.

The Far-East designers love their plastic, never failing to make expensive things look cheap. If you didn't know the SGS2 was an expensive device you would think it is a cheap toy. Everbody that sees my SGS2 comment on the cheap plastic look/feel.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyBroadband Android App
Click to expand...

That is is why I have never liked Samung or LG products. They just somehow feel cheap and flimsy in your hand. I dont think HTC suffers from this...neither does Motorola. It feels like a solid device in your hand and does not look cheap either.
 
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