Comments on: Google’s Honeycomb offensive musters just 3.4m tablets

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:45:00 +0000

Not in the slightest bit. There’s a Definite Difference from those who choose & use vs those who choose & Rant and Then post about how Great their decision-making process is So Much Better Because ” x, y, z ” …

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:40:00 +0000

and who DOESN’T these days? I trust Google with my information more than Any Other company out there today : apple , amazon , our government, roku, wd, boxee, sony and Especially M$$$soft ! Who do YOU trust the most with YOUR info ? It’s ALL out there , now. Don’t doubt for a Second that You and I aren’t visible to whomever wants our information & ” private stuff ” . Google has PROVEN itself over & over again – even when it makes mistakes, unlike the fruit who covers up their mistakes with secrecy and denial …

By: Aussie Rob

Aussie Rob — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:31:00 +0000

When you call people isheeps and then ask people not to “decry others for their choice” you are speaking out of your ass.

By: Aussie Rob

Aussie Rob — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:28:00 +0000

Google not only gathers vast amounts of personal data, it aspires to global domination – and that’s creepy. And not very ethical.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:23:00 +0000

Fruit phones are Also subsidized by the carriers…don’t post if you don’t know. The Huawei tablet being released by TMo ??? I’ll Happily take FOUR , 1 for each member if my family. 1200 x 800 HD screen dual core at 1.2 GHz, 1gb ram, 16 Rom WITH 32gb sd card support, Honeycomb 3.2, front and back cameras ….and on and on… Now THIS is a Great Take-along tablet ! Pig, how Little some know…oh, and it’s Less than $200 bucks!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:14:00 +0000

then why are So Many disappointed that they’re still stuck with a tiny screen ? Not to mention ( ahem ) the light bleeds , the yellow screens and the Horrid battery life of their new toy ?…..?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:07:00 +0000

My view exactly but with a slightly different stance. The fruit does this with each “generation” of their phone. They Keep Out a camera only to introduce it in 1 year and Then leaving out a FFC only to install it on their NEXT year’s model…forcing buyers to , yet again, upgrade their devices each year…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:01:00 +0000

Wow…50% of the worldwide market vs 18% is a FAILURE ? You isheeps are Really disturbed. Perhaps this is why so many Android features have been borrowed by apple to IMPROVE its UI & UX…don’t be blindly ignorant. If you prefer being told what you can & can not do then Fine. If others prefer something Different then that is fine as well . Historically speaking, those who cry & get defensive are so because they see a threat, a Difference, that is Better than the Choice they made. Chill out and enjoy your decision, but please, do Not decry others for Their Choice.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:45:00 +0000

I would Truly like to see how you have determined that Google is not making any $$$ from its Android platform (even as it Gives it out for FREE). Indeed, SOMETHING has caused Google to have several Back-to-back Record Breaking Sales AND Profits…??? Let’s see Your numbers, OK ? btw…how many new US jobs has your fruit created vs Google ? Google is creating New, Good Paying AMERICAN Jobs while your fruit outsources dozens of Thousands of jobs employing children for pennies a day. Now we ALL can understand why I devices are such money-makers for Cupertino. I’ll keep my business with Ethical Companies, thank you .

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:32:00 +0000

most of them are either poorly directed or even lost the points they’re trying to convince .
their ads still struggling with hardware specs (which will be ignored by most people)

in the other hand , apple ads are based on emotions and that’s what enticing people more. they see what they can do with apple products ..

By: Mathieu

Mathieu — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:03:00 +0000

It depends of what you call “Apple fanboys”.
I call “Apple fanboys” the people who are buying “every” new Apple products w/o even looking at the competition.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:06:00 +0000

If you really think that it’s only ‘Apple fanboys’ buying iPads, you’re in pretty serious denial.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:55:00 +0000

No, it’s because Windows makes money for system builders, OEM’s, IT departments, support infrastructure, back yarder IT folk, security companies, and so on.

You think Symantec is happy they can’t release an iOS app to all those millions of iOS users out there? John Doe can’t buy parts, build an iPad and sell it in the classifieds for a profit.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:51:00 +0000

The best selling phone, the top selling phone, on all carriers that offer it, is iPhone. Second best selling phone is also iPhone (eg 3GS on AT&T).

Biggest market share of mobile operating systems? iOS. (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad combined)

Biggest profit share for manufacturers? iOS, by a significant margin. Most profitable mobile platform for 3rd party developers? iOS.

Android is simply very effectively stealing the ‘dumb phone’ market from Nokia etc, for people who want a basic phone, even though Android is far more powerful and does more. But those who get Android devices don’t spend money on software for them.

By: Dan Woods

Dan Woods — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:34:00 +0000

I know a few people who mistakenly bought a BlackJack, thinking that they bought a BlackBerry.
When they realised how useless it was, they told their friends that they bought a BlackThingo SmartPhone and it was Crap.

When the Original iPhone was announced, it wasn’t available in Australia, but they could be purchased off of eBay. CECT, HiPhone and SciPhone Chinese copies were also available off of eBay. I has 3 normals at work who purchased these cheap devices, couldn’t get them to work with iTunes and determined that all iPhone’s were crap.

Nowadays SalesDrones are pushing Galaxy Tabs instead of iPads saying “It’s like an iPad, but [different | better | cheaper | commission]“. The consumer tries to use it and realises that it is useless and get the perception that all *Tabs and *Pads must be crap. This is why Apple is fighting so hard to prevent look-alike devices.

By: Dan Woods

Dan Woods — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:10:00 +0000

Unfortunately, Android is a S.PoC due to how it was architectured.
It was originally designed to compete with Symbian, then Blackberry, which were low-performance, low-feature Hardware environments. Cheap Hardware.

The Original iPhone came along with mediocre-performance, low-feature Hardware, but with an extensible architecture that could take full advantage of High-performance, high-feature Hardware.

iOS’s architecture (especially CentralStation) allows software to take full advantage of whatever hardware is suitable. Android’s Monolithic structure means that it can only *really* do one thing at a time. How ironic is it that iOS’s lack of User Multitasking meant that it’s System Multitasking is so much better than Android. Android’s User Multitasking is it’s achilles heal which prevents it from performing well.

By: Mathieu

Mathieu — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:41:00 +0000

The Kindle Fire will sell well in the US. That’s it.
Amazon has no content outside the US.
The US is a big market but compared to the worldwide market…

The iPhone 4S will be the most popular smartphone but Android will be the most popular smartphone platform.
Nothing new here.

Android tablets are slow to start because people and companies are having a hard time justifying the 500$ for a tablet that doesn’t replace any other device.

Like Steve said: “Using a tablet is much more intimate than the laptop.” and that’s why everyone will buy a tablet sooner or later. It’s way more fun to use than a PC with screen, mouse, keyboard, cable and stuff…

By: Mathieu

Mathieu — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 01:29:00 +0000

Still, among these 4 millions people, I bet that 50% of them already own an iPhone.

By: Dan Woods

Dan Woods — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:28:00 +0000

Android phones are subsidised by the Carrier. The consumer perceives them as being “free”. Cheap Huawei devices are sold as sub-$100 pre-paid devices, which contribute to the Android “Market Share”. They can compete against the iPhone on perceived cost, they are a commodity.
Tablets are a Luxury. Android Tablets will have to compete against the iPad by Merits. UX is much more important than Specs or Price on Luxury goods.

By: Dan Woods

Dan Woods — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:18:00 +0000

That is because there is no incentive for the OEMs to update the software. The Device is sold, they have your money.
The Carriers do have incentive to update the software. The longer the device stays relevant, the less they have to subsidise their customers. Unfortunately the support costs of keeping multiple devices updated makes it cost-prohibitive. Economic Rationalism (Penny pinching) means that The Carriers aren’t likely to pay this pittance to reduce long-term expenses.
Google, Microsoft and Apple have a huge incentive to keep your device updated. Everyone using the current software means lower support costs and more marketing opportunities. Apple have the Hardware/Software ecosystem locked down. Microsoft have placed restrictions on their OEMs that similarly lock down the Hardware and Software. Google have given their OEMs Carte Blanche when it comes to post-sale hardware support and are suffering now with increased support costs and brand dilution.

By: Dan Woods

Dan Woods — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:06:00 +0000

The TouchPad was out for about a month (less than a week in some markets). It was considered a failure.
The Playbook has been out for longer than the TouchPad, and hasn’t sold many more devices than HP (before the Firesale). Very few people consider it a success either.
7 months and still woeful product sales? Yes the Android Tablet market is a Wasteland. Multiple vendors have not only diluted the market, but sub-standard Android 2.3 Tablets have poisoned the market for Real Honeycomb Tablets. Early adopters have been burnt by lacklustre performance.The consumer mindset is that Android is that cheap copy you get when you can’t afford an iPhone or iPad. This may work well for devices that are cheaper than an iPhone like the Huawei Android Phones and Amazon Kindle Fire, but premium priced products will continue to be unable to compete due to the dilution of the Android brand.

I still wouldn’t call Android a failure, but it will never be a success.

By: FlopTech Engineering

FlopTech Engineering — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:51:00 +0000

Agree. It’s already hopelessly fragmented. Good luck with that.

By: Dan Woods

Dan Woods — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:50:00 +0000

Normals consider a Device where the UI doesn’t change regularly as a bonus too.
While Gadget Geeks may like a fast evolution of new UI’s with a high degree of customisability, most people who want to use the device, just want to use the device.

By: FlopTech Engineering

FlopTech Engineering — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:46:00 +0000

And now there’s the Kindle Fire. It effectively freezes Android at 2.3, with Amazon’s proprietary closed fork. Why the freeze? Because for once, there’s an Android-based tablet that might actually make money for developers.

What Android “tablet” developers there are will migrate to Fire. They’ll love the fact that it isn’t a moving target, as Amazon locks up the low-to-mid range of the “tablet” market. Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, etc. will be ignored in the “tablet” space by all but the most die-hard hobbyists.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:41:00 +0000

“… on specs is about equal if not better than the $499 16 GB Ipad 2 WiFi only model..”

There it is – it’s not about specs. Specs are what you used to compare to buy PCs or graphics cards. Android manufacturers need to realize its not about specs, or including half-baked Flash support, or an SD card memory slot (that doesn’t work) – it’s about the complete experience – it needs to feel right.

Android became dominant in the smartphone market because they were pretty much given away. You need to actually spend money upfront and buy a tablet – and most people aren’t willing to bet on android.

Of course, what you’ll hear from the android team is: “You wait and see, you wait and see! Android will dominate just like the smartphones did because people like open and choice and Flash!”

By: Steven Noyes

Steven Noyes — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:13:00 +0000

Those are units shipped, sunshine. What this means is over 7 months of channel inventory of unsold Android tablets waiting to be shipped to the dump or the island of misfit toys.

By: Steven Noyes

Steven Noyes — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:10:00 +0000

Android phones “won” because the telcos picked them to “win”. B1G1F and $0.99 phones that can’t even play Angry Birds are common in the Android space.

Apple has “won” simply because they make all the money.

Amazon’s Fire. Did you notice the lack of Google congratulating Amazon on a new entry to the Android Tablet space. Did you wonder why?

By: Canucker

Canucker — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:01:00 +0000

@cdanvers – Look into the Amazon Kindle Fire browser – Silk. It’s designed to substitute Amazon’s adverts. In other words, Google is cut out of Kindle Fire revenues.

By: Dale P

Dale P — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:01:00 +0000

Honeycomb is the code name for versions 3.0 through 3.2 of the Android operating system, thus it is not one device or product but several, from several different OEMs.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:45:00 +0000

If I’m not mistaken the Fire will still have a browser and hence Google search. Since Google still makes most of it’s money from search ads and virtually nothing in comparison from Android ads or app store, they will still be able to profit from the Fire.

By: Tony

Tony — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:32:00 +0000

One word for those writing “The XYZ device has similar specs than the iPad”:

The moment you understand it is not about the specs but the quality of everything (build, UI, applications, experience in general) you will see why iPad is leading the market. Android eclipsed iPhones in quantity, but that does not say anything since Google is not profiting yet (in fact, now it is -12.5 Billion before Google start to profits). In fact, Apple makes more profit with 1 device than Google with its partners all together combined.

I wish we could have more companies with similar core values and understanding of the end customer like Apple.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:36:00 +0000

Ultimately, OS X has a tiny market share because Windows has more apps and a better ecosystem.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:41:00 +0000

What you say about Apple’s sales pattern is just false. iPhone sales were

- 6 million in the first year
- 20 million in the second
- 33 million in the third
- 69 million in the fourth.

That’s 1150 % growth in 4 years, and they’re on track to double again in the fifth year as they’re adding several major carriers and offer the iPhone 3GS for $379 without contract.

iPad has grown 275 % from its first to its second year. iPod has grown to 70 % marketshare in the mid-00′s and has held the top spot ever since, for 6 years and counting. Even Mac sales have quintupled from 3 million sold in 2003 to 15 million in the last 12 months.

By: Rosswell

Rosswell — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:48:00 +0000

Apple iPads are simply the best, and if you are a developer you will appreciate a massively popular tablet that has a lifetime of 2-3 years at least, without much change, which you may consider “boring” but a developer is glad, more time to make a quality app instead of addressing myriad incarnations of the OS (Android) on different devices with different specs.
Jobs really aced it here, the low price and the compelling OS makes it a no-brainer for most people.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:26:00 +0000

Total iPad units sold to date:Q310: 3.27 million
Q410: 4.19 million
Q111: 7.33 million
Q211: 4.69 million
Q311: 9.25 million
Q411: 13.06 million (est.)
—
Total: 41.79 million (est.)These are Apple’s fiscal quarters, not calendar quarters, i.e. Q1 fiscal starts on Oct 1, hence the 75% spike between Q410 to Q111 and the drop between Q1 & Q2 when the iPad 2 rolled out.Android better hope that Apple doesn’t have a 75% spike between Q4 and Q1 this year, that would mean >20 million iPads in one quarter, adding 50% to the iPad user base.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:16:00 +0000

1. Yes, it’s only been out for 7 months, but it’s now 18 months behind the iPad with 40 million units and they have zero traction. iPad is everywhere.
2. Yes, Moto is offering the budget Xoom cause they couldn’t sell the regular Xoom, so now they are forced into selling the devices with almost no margins so they can unload them before the next version comes out. That’s why Moto is losing money more often than not.
3. $100 – $130 cheaper won’t work and if they go cheaper they either sell with no profits (like Amazon) or use crappy components. Amazon is the only one who can subsidize their tablets with potential content.
4. Ice Cream sandwich won’t make Android tablets magically cheaper and Android apps are irrelevant, that’s why the Android app store revenue is less than 1/10th of the Apple app store.
5. Google better pray that the Kindle-Fire fails because it takes the entire Android ecosystem–hardware and OS–BACKWARDS!–and cuts Google out of the picture and makes life very, very difficult for the Android OEMs who have no content/retail business to subsidize their tablets.
6. Apple is on course to sell > 40 million iPads per year. Individual OEMs will be happy if they sell a few million per year. No OEM will be able to match Apple’s economies of scale.
7. In this case, having multiple OEMs with dinky market-share, is actually a disadvantage because they are all fighting for components, mindshare, shelf-space, marketing dollars and telco subsidies. (And Google’s attention span post Moto acquisition.) Apple gets to market and sell one iPad everywhere, with premium shelf space, plus its Apple retail network and gets advertising from the Telcos for FREE.

The OEMs waited way too long to cut the telcos out of the loop for tablets. Apple has sidelined the telcos with the iPad from the very beginning. That’s why the first iPad had no 3G. That’s why Facetime is wifi. That’s why Verizon sold iPads with no CDMA or two year contact!

By: new position

new position — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:30:00 +0000

Because why should Apple spend 4 years developing a product for a competitor to turn around and copy it? Samsung pride themselves on being fast copiers, remember RIM suing Samsung over the Blackjack?

By: new position

new position — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:25:00 +0000

To be excited by exciting innovative products is the correct response.

By: new position

new position — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 21:23:00 +0000

Apple has 5% of the mobile phone market and 60% of the profits. What does market share mean if you are losing money?! Nothing.

By: Gary Lai

Gary Lai — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Wow, the product has been out for only 7 months now and it’s being considered a failure. Seriously everyone…the sales of Honeycomb will improve and I think they will someday be on par if not better than IPad sales, the same way Android smartphones eventually eclipsed IPhone. Several three key reasons for this:
- They are coming down in price in a big way. Motorola just released a new Xoom tablet yesterday called the “Family Edition” (October 16) for $379 that on specs is about equal if not better than the $499 16 GB Ipad 2 WiFi only model. Initial Honeycomb tablet sales were slow in part due to price (they were about the same if not more than IPads), but the latest Honeycomb tablet prices like for the Transformer or Xoom are $100-$130 cheaper than equivalent Ipads, and this trend will continue.- Ice Cream Sandwich, to be announced tomorrow – this will unify Android smartphone and tablet operating systems and make apps for Android smartphones work fine for Android tablets. This will be a big deal, because Android has a huge lead in smartphones vs. Apple iOS. If you have an Android smartphone, it makes perfect sense to own an Android tablet as the experience is the same and all the apps you purchase for your smartphone will be available for your tablet, and vice versa.- Honeycomb and app access keeps improving – version 3.2 is way better than 3.1 and 3.2 in terms of stability. Apps keep getting added. Since I first bought my Android tablet in April it they have come out for Honeycomb with Skype video chat, Google video chat, Netflix, Google Video, Kindle reading apps, etc.. It is a different situation than just 3 months ago. The only app I would like that works on IPad but not on an Android tablet yet is Hulu Plus, but this should be coming as an Android app for Hulu Plus is working for Android 2.2 and 2.3 smartphones.