Comments on: Tablets finally undercutting $500 iPad, but will it matter?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:07:00 +0000

Anyone here take a marketing/economics course? Of course prices are still high….every company (including Apple) is trying to maximize thier profit margins. The Amazon Fire is a new approach and WILL have a significant impact down the road. Amazon is approaching the Fire as an access point to its portal of consumables (music, movies, books, etc.) just as Apple ‘forces’ you to use ITunes to access content on the ipad and any of thier other handhelds…3 products now? You do know that apple makes 30% or more from whatever you buy through thier portal, don’t you?

IPAD has brand recognition….they could sell thier pad for less….but why would they. They have a hook (like crack) that people are willing to re-purchase the same products even when the differences are minor ones. (ex. ipad iphone4s) Shelling out hundreds of dollars for the latest apple item is an adiction for some fashionistas.

btw. I own a Xoom and I’m a PC.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Lame tout for IPAD. Question, How many apps do you have on yoru IPAD? Media loves to shout that Apple has more apps than avaibla on Android. Thats changing and NO ONE has a need for thousands of apps. It’s quality, not quantity.

By: David Banes

David Banes — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:19:00 +0000

In general means nothing. Not to mention “productivity” needs to be defined.

By: Charbax

Charbax — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:14:00 +0000

Archos is the best value tablet maker. Why don’t you mention them?

Starting at $299 and with a faster dual-core than Tegra2.

Are you asking if it matters? Android tablets are going to be the biggest tablet ecosystem selling more and faster than ipad before the end of the year. And with cheaper better value Android tablets becoming more and more available, this growth is only obviously going to accelerate.

By: Bryan Lee

Bryan Lee — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:29:00 +0000

“…No ONE tablet device will ever out-sell the iPad”. I don’t know, the Kindle Fire is coming pretty close. I think “ever” is stretching it a bit, however I think in the long run that doesn’t matter so much, it will be about families of devices – the Android devices, Windows 8 devices, the iPad. Just like I can use my HP laptop, or my Dell desktop, or even my old Compaq laptop, and they can run the same software. It doesn’t matter to me whether the particular model I have is selling well as long as the ecosystem is alive and well.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:45:00 +0000

The Jetstream is their top of the line product, it’s harder to reduce the price for that than their lower end products.

But the market is definitely headed towards lower pricing, especially with fewer people willing to pay the higher prices.

Android tablet makers don’t really have much choice, having better specs isn’t enough. So they have to go cheaper to really compete.

While even at lower pricing you may still be better off with a laptop, but people like these ARM tablets because they can be made pretty thin and light and not everyone needs a full computer on the go. So it’s mostly a luxury item and luxury items tend to cost more but that doesn’t mean you need to get one but it is something lots of people would like to have anyway.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:02:00 +0000

Yes for the flyer but have you seen the price for the jetstream? Its $700 under a contract. I’m better off just buying a new laptop or desktop for that price.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:52:00 +0000

The iPad had more productivity software than Android has for the Transformer or Honeycomb tablets in general.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:54:00 +0000

in the case of the asus transformer, tis not the price alone, its the functionality. the better camera function, better display, flash compatibly and most of all, the keyboard dock, with its extra interface options dominates the field. later advancements may equal or improve on it, since technology advances so rapidly, but right now, the transformer is the pick of the litter

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:30:00 +0000

You do know the article clearly pointed out HTC and others have cut their prices?

While Motorola is now owned by Google, and like Amazon they are one of the few who can supplement profit from their alternative revenue sources to help lower pricing on the hardware.

The highest price, though, should be determined by the value of what you get with a tablet. You put a price limit then it limits what they can give you, which cuts out choices for people who want more than just a basic tablet.

There should be more choices, not less! Sure there should be more cheaper choices but don’t eliminate the higher choices for those who want them.

By: Robin Ashe

Robin Ashe — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:25:00 +0000

This will change once Windows 8 hits. Then you’re not just buying a tablet, you’re buying a PC. It’s worth noting Asus hasn’t felt a need to slash prices on the Eee Pad Transformer, and it’s the perfect device for Windows 8. There are plenty of people who aren’t buying iPads because they can’t see any productivity from them, but they definitely will with an Eee Pad Transformer running Windows 8 – running a fully fledged version of Office, Photoshop and the like, along with the fun that having a tablet brings.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:23:00 +0000

You should check out the new mobile app from Adobe, Photoshop Touch, which is available for Android and later for iOS.

Amazon is unlikely to provide you with a card reader as that doesn’t fit their market model for cloud access and services. The others though should continue to provide that feature.

Upcoming Tegra 3 update for the Asus Transformer 2 should give a taste of what to expect for next year and Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich Android update is expected to really improve the platform. Reducing software fragmentation, accelerating the hardware optimization process, eliminating many of the previous faults with the Android OS, etc.

Though by 2013, in addition to the Windows 8 ARM tablets that should come out before the end of 2012, we should start seeing Intel making more competitive products for the mobile space and may have the option for a portable tablet that can still run something like traditional desktop Photoshop.

We’ll have a lot more good choices by then anyway…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:46:00 +0000

Nope b/c you will still have idiots like HTC and Motorola still putting out overprice tablets.
$400 should be the highest price for all android tablets

By: Benitez Burns

Benitez Burns — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:27:00 +0000

Its kinda like “iPad and friends” are more like a band with a lead singer! There is no associations with the other tables on a large scale! The only people who really know of them per se are gadgets lovers like ourselves! The average consumer only knows “iPad!” and now maybe the amazon tablet!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 02:50:00 +0000

So the failure of Android tablets can be summed up as a failure on the part of Google? If that is what you’re getting at then I agree. Google did a piss-poor job of planning their move on the tablet market. They didn’t have developers on board and they had to rush an operating system out the door. Google should have stopped to think of their customers instead of worrying about Apple, maybe they would have seen the folly in rushing out of the door without their pants on ahead of time.

By: Jack E Mabry Jr

Jack E Mabry Jr — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:58:00 +0000

I don’t have any complaints with my Acer Iconia A500, its actually come in more handy than I thought it would. It was my first Android device and was pretty easy for me to pick up. I still dig my iPod touch too though.

I thought about getting an iPad but since the Touch pretty much did the samething I wanted something different in a tablet, which is why I went with the Iconia.

By: plunder

plunder — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:37:00 +0000

2011 has felt like the prototype year for Android on Tablets. Until recently, the OS felt like a beta release, not ready to compete with iPad2 on any level. None of them have a seriously nice app (like Garage Band) to drive them forward; not even the quality basic applications I need.

Despite clear omissions, iPad is a very attractive package. The only Apple product I thought about getting. I hope 2012 will be the year we see attractive, mature and capable Android tablets. This is not about quad-core. I need an image management app to match iPhoto, with basic editing if possible and direct access to full size external memory cards. Micro SD cards on phones make sense; but why make a 10 inch tablet without a SD-XC card slot? That is utterly stupid.

Can Asus, HTC, LG, Toshiba, Samsung, Lenovo or (god help us) Amazon make something good enough to drive the iPad2 from my mind? COME ON BOYS.