That’s my 2 cents… $200 more so that I can ACTUALLY do what tablets are truly designed for? all i have to say is Hellz ya and can’t wait to get myself the xoom.

I think the iPad will be more like Apple’s Mac sales. Selling mostly to already Apple consumers thus ~10% market in the long run. . . . but we will see and it will be fun.

What I mean buy Apple using cheaper components is that by using 6-12 month old image sensors and being able to buy most of the flash and displays they need, the iPad components will be cost less. At the same time some parts will cost more for competing products. Same thing happened with the iPods. Also iOS will be far more optimized that Android. I do Java, C and other development and basing an OS on a modified version of Java with all its overhead will need better hardware.

With regards to how many iPhones is sold vs. Android phones, it is a very open and expanding market and neighter of them limits the other at the moment. Apple has stated more times that if they could build more faster they will all be sold. If WP7 gets any following then Nokia, SE, Acer, and HTC will devote some of their production and marketing towards WP7 products. So the smart phones will be a two way split of 3 way split. I do see Apple having a very good posibility to build a feature/media phone that will replace their iPod Nano as a good phone. This will get many into and keep many users use iTunes.

The iPad business will be easier for Apple to dominate in the same way as the iPod. 2011 will not be the year where the iPad gets any run for its money. It is clear that most only show and talk about products, few sets a price and is able to get them in the hands of consumers. First launching some time in the summer = fail. So all 3.0 Androids will arrive when the iPad 2 has sold 20-30mill. And I am convinced that in September Apple will release iPad 2 HD with retina display and speed bumps + a 5” iPod touch for gaming.

We will see – fun year in the tech industry.

Yeah, that sums it up. Apple products are not high quality regardless of the sales pitch.

Also, if your argument was true then the iPhone should have easily outsold all those plastic Android handsets. Yet in the last quarter Android outsold iPhone 2 to 1.

The “illusion” that Apple products are so much better than all others seems to hold true for only a small percentage of the populous, and as a product is more widely used and functional (computerish) the less this illusion seems to hold with the masses.

I have little doubt that a customer standing in Best Buy looking at the current iPad Vs the Xoom will see a significant difference for the Xoom over the iPad; however, at this time since this is still new tech I’m not sure how many of the “average users” will want to be “first adopters.” Most people sit on the sideline a little while and wait for the 2nd or 3rd generations to come out. . . maybe this tech will be different.

Nonetheless, I think the biggest selling point of Android tablets will be Android, regardless of the price. As opposed to the iPad an Android tablet can be docket and used just like a normal computer–keyboard and mouse. This will be seen in the eyes of many consumers as allowing them to own an “easy to use tablet” that can be easily expanded into a netbook/notebook–take a look at Asus’ Transformer.

I’m not bashing the iPad or Apple’s products. My point simple is, it’s ridiculous for these price comparison against Apple’s products. Android products will compete against other Android products more so than Apple’s and just like on the PC side they will find their price point. For all we know that may be higher than Apple’s product due to the increased functionality the OS brings, wider array of hardware choices, higher hardware specs, etc. . . which all leads to increased functionality for the end user.

And finally, to think that average users don’t look at hardware specs is very naive in this day. Most everyone I know when going to a store to purchase something ask about the 4 main hardware specs–CPU, Screen, RAM, and hard drive capacity. Add that to the sales pitch of, and this one has two cameras, standard ports like USB, HDMI, etc. . . and you can do x, y, z with it that you can’t with the iPad and you have a person thinking–wow, that few extra bucks seems to be worth it.

As you say though, we will see. . . and I think it will be fun to watch as this new tech space expands.

Also don’t expect the iPad 2 to be more expensive then the current model. Do expect the iPad v1 to be $100 cheaper and perhaps the new will be $50 cheaper just like how the iPod Nano killed the Zune. Apple has the buying power and the engineers to make a better product from cheaper components. Yes it will have only one camera at a lower quality, and less ram, and smaller CPU, but still run smoother since it is not running the Java GC.

And guess what? The none geek consumer don’t care about specs.

We will see, but Apple is so well run and has so much development power that companies that cannot make their own OS and opitimized integration has to relay on more expensive hardware.

regards

While I might like it to be cheaper, this whole idea of being X under Apple is getting ridiculous.

Consumers will define the end price point for this new market just as they have for the PC. So everyone needs to take their chill-pill and relax. First adopters know that they have to pay to play with the newest tech. . . and to top it off we have yet to see the products of many of the big computer manufacturers hit the market.