Why do Android Tablets lag the ipad so much?

[bearxor]

I don't think Android tablets will ever hold a significant marketshare. I just think it's too late.

Windows 8 tablets will be the dominate OS in a few years.

 

[Doppel]

And they will do it with liitle to no advertising. I dont see android tablets splahed all over billboards on the highways and rarely see a tv advert. It sells on knowledge.

Well right now it's not selling. There's the iPad and then the various other ones that nobody cares about. Fire is the first relevant non-Apple tablet.

 

[alent1234]

Hasn't the iphone been available for over 2 years in china? I was under the impression they got it in late 2009.

from what i've read either no or the largest carriers are all android because they are cdma. there is a huge black market in china for apple products. even when i bought my ipad 2 on release day most of the people were there to resell

 

[jpeyton]

Well right now it's not selling. There's the iPad and then the various other ones that nobody cares about. Fire is the first relevant non-Apple tablet.

Again, it has to do with the fact that the Android tablet market is in its infancy, especially on the software side. Google launched Honeycomb this year, and ICS is their attempt to treat tablet hardware with equal importance going forward.

How well was Android selling in 2008 when the G1 launched? I knew a total of 2 people with a G1 back then; one was a Linux programmer, and the other was married to him.

It's a mistake to discount Android in the tablet market simply because it's currently not selling well. Barring some kind of "game changing" innovation from Apple, Android tablets will be at parity in marketshare with the iPad by 2013, if not ahead. There will be a flood of tablets in 2012, and most of them will undercut the iPad by $100+ in price.

 

[jpiniero]

Google got a lucky break when Apple refused to put the iPhone on the other carriers, mainly Verizon. A lot of companies looking to move away from Blackberry standardized on Android because the iPhone wasn't available at the time on their carrier. Android works fine for phone and email, so the need to switch isn't that great.

The non-Android Android tablets like the Fire are interesting, but they can't be considered real Android tablets anyway. Google isn't getting a dime from Amazon. They also released the ICS source a day or two after the Fire was released, and I don't think that was a coincidence.

 

[Pliablemoose]

ICS is the first OS that's going to rival iOS on phones and tablets.

HC was rushed and poorly done. Most of those problems have been ironed out in ICS.

For instance, if you read the reviews of the Transformer Prime, they nearly all say the hardware is very good, but HC is lacking.

Once again, there is no comparable Android Tablet to buy for Christmas to rival the iPad.

Next year will be a whole new story.

 

[runawayprisoner]

...Windows 8 tablets will be the dominate OS in a few years.

I don't think Windows 8 in its current "promised form" holds any significance. If anything, when consumers buy the first Win 8 tablets and realize it doesn't support their favorite Photoshop or Office plugins, or even the main program for that matter. No AutoCAD, nothing. It'll be just like a new OS with no software.

If anything, I think Microsoft is way too late to the game. Just like with WinPhone 7.

It's a mistake to discount Android in the tablet market simply because it's currently not selling well. Barring some kind of "game changing" innovation from Apple, Android tablets will be at parity in marketshare with the iPad by 2013, if not ahead. There will be a flood of tablets in 2012, and most of them will undercut the iPad by $100+ in price.

I think it's a mistake to look at Android phones and say that the same thing would happen to tablets. What you are describing already happened in 2011. Many Android tablets have come and gone. Most undercut the iPad by $100+ even though the brand wasn't good enough.

But honestly, I think the important factor to remember is that the iPhone was never available for cheap, and even now, an iPhone without contract costs more than the baseline newer iPad model.

On the other hand, with the iPad, Apple has a lower-end model available as a refurbished for $100 less than the current generation device. That move is obviously to counter Android tablets, and when you weigh between an iPad 1 vs another HC tablet at the same price point, I'm sure the choice is obvious.

Next year, the cycle will repeat with the iPad 2 at $399 and the iPad 3 at $499. If that happens, then Android tablets obviously can't undercut by much unless it's the same Kindle Fire tactic, but most manufacturers are not at the same content disposal as Amazon.

If anything, the iPad is starting to shape its market more like the iPod Touch than the phone market, and I'm quite certain we all know how the iPod Touch market is.

ICS is the first OS that's going to rival iOS on phones and tablets.

HC was rushed and poorly done. Most of those problems have been ironed out in ICS.

For instance, if you read the reviews of the Transformer Prime, they nearly all say the hardware is very good, but HC is lacking.

Once again, there is no comparable Android Tablet to buy for Christmas to rival the iPad.

Next year will be a whole new story.

I think the OS is just half the story. App and developer support makes the other half.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I think the iPod analogy works for now, BUT, with HC and the TP on the market next year, the market will more closely mirror what's going on with phones.

Apps do make a massive difference, but it won't take that much to flesh out tablet apps on HC.

The other thing that just killed Android tablets was tying them to a carrier and a data plan/contract for so long. With the WiFi versions, they're much more attractive to purchase.

Also, a growth in Android tablet sales doesn't mean Apple is doomed by any stretch of the imagination. After going "all Apple" I can see where the loyalty is coming from, as long as you're ok with the ecosystem (and I completely understand all the reasons the ecosystem does not appeal to many here) it's really nice to have everything work together with very little effort.

 

[runawayprisoner]

The reason why it won't mirror the phones market is because the tablet and phone markets are fundamentally different. As I hinted, on the phone market, you have users who look more at phone functionality (connectivity, battery life, making calls, sending texts) than at a computer functionality (apps, namely). With the tablet market, it's more about apps, or more about what you can do with the big screen, rather than having style, variations, or some innovative way to interact with the device. No, I believe the tablet market is more about how you can use that thin slab of metal to do goofy things that are simpler than your grandpa computers can do.

Flooding the market with inferior tablets is not the answer, as 2011 has shown.

Even if the OS is great, and I can vouch for pretty much just that with at least the Blackberry Playbook, lack of apps (Mail on the Playbook, among other things) is a huge deal that can't be overlooked.

Innovations, variations, and different options are obviously not what the market want with regard to the tablet market because, again, 2011 showed quite a few innovative ideas with tablets (Asus Transformer), and we all know how those fare against the iPad.

How those factors play out in 2012 is a big unknown. But historically, or at least this year, they haven't worked out well enough.

I'm not saying that Android growth is a bad thing for Apple. No, in fact, this doesn't have anything to do with Apple. Android's problem is its own.

That said, I sincerely don't see how repeating what they did in 2011 would magically boost manufacturers' sales in 2012. In fact, if anything, the only thing the 2011 battlefield has proven is that $199 and below sell really well.

But at the same time, most tablets the size of the iPad or even slightly smaller obviously cost close to $199 to manufacture.

 

[Pliablemoose]

The poor PlayBook, loved the Vergecast where they turned PlayBook into a pejorative term, "Man, they really PlayBooked that."

I ordered one, looking forward to using it, and hoping they make good on their promises to fix it early next year. I have an HTC Flyer coming today too, am pretty sure the Flyer will be my tablet of choice for dragging to work...

Messed around with a co-workers PlayBook this week, web browsing was very good, but a visit to the BB app store was really depressing the apps just plain sucked.

I honestly don't know how much more money BB can throw at the PlayBook, I'm hoping enough so it actually works as a stand alone product...

 

[runawayprisoner]

Yeah. I think apps is the only problem with Playbook. Really.

It is a great device otherwise. The lack of an email app is just nitpicking.

In my opinions, RIM wouldn't be in its current condition if it had only promoted the Playbook a little more. Perhaps poured more money into "luring" developers.

 

[quest55720]

I don't think it is really that hard to figure it out. Anyone who is not biased would see the IPAD out does the android tablets in every single category until recently. Better hardware, better OS, more apps at the same price point. Finally there is an android tablet with better hardware in the transformer prime. We will see if ICS can match IOS for tablets and they can get more tablet apps out there. I think the market will be split with cheap subsidized android tablets on the low end that dominate sales IE fire and NT. At the high end apple will dominate with the IPAD. By this time next year I think that most android tablet makers will be out of the market place squeezed on both ends.

 

[Ns1]

nm

 

[MrX8503]

And they will do it with liitle to no advertising. I dont see android tablets splahed all over billboards on the highways and rarely see a tv advert. It sells on knowledge.

It sells because its an alternative and gives a lot of choice. Thats all.

I don't think it is really that hard to figure it out. Anyone who is not biased would see the IPAD out does the android tablets in every single category until recently. Better hardware, better OS, more apps at the same price point. Finally there is an android tablet with better hardware in the transformer prime. We will see if ICS can match IOS for tablets and they can get more tablet apps out there. I think the market will be split with cheap subsidized android tablets on the low end that dominate sales IE fire and NT. At the high end apple will dominate with the IPAD. By this time next year I think that most android tablet makers will be out of the market place squeezed on both ends.

That got me thinking that we may see a similar effect with laptops. Windows holds the marketshare over Mac, but Window PC vendors have razor thin profit margins. I see a similar thing happening with tablets where Android tablets are really cheap.

 

[hans007]

How is the iPad not a toy? For most people that's all it is. There are business applications for sure, but that's a small minority, and there's no reason businesses couldn't use Android tablets for the same things.

What is an "aspirational device"?

thats exactly what i said. the ipad and iconia are both toys.

granted i wouldn't buy an ipad just to claim i have one, but an ipad is definitely a "hot item" that people say want for xmas, or talk about like its a "yes i have one i'm cool" type deal in certain circles.

lets put it this way . if all tablets are toys, not many people will get them. but of the people who will buy a toy who also have some burning desire to show off a "expensive device that is a conversation piece" for whatever reason, that set of people is going to lean towards the ipad, since no one cares about the iconia.

i mean apple products tend to be like that anyway. there are people who buy apple stuff just because it is the popular familar heavily marketed brand "iphone, ipad, ipod" with tons of billboards. then you can tell people, "yeah i have an ipad" . so the ipad has that "hey all my friends will think im cool , since everyone knows what an ipad is" factor.

and yeah the new transformer prime is a more than competitive tablet technology wise. but in that sector of people, no one could care. and for the "i'm going to give my kid a gift, hey lets get an ipad since i heard about that on cnn.com types" well, they aren't buying transformer prime's for anyone, they are still buying ipads.

 

[Oyeve]

nm

C'mon, say it! You know you want to!

 

[wirednuts]

i cant believe microsoft let their mobile division die like they did. they held onto wm6 for FAR too long. it pissed a lot of people off because it seemed like ms just milked that software until they were forced to put out something better.

now if win8 really does scale down to arm processors well, and you really can put the same OS on your pc and phones, then maybe they will spring back in the cell phone industry... but if they can actually pull that off then i would imagine they would dominate the entire os market again. well see....

 

[Oyeve]

i cant believe microsoft let their mobile division die like they did. they held onto wm6 for FAR too long. it pissed a lot of people off because it seemed like ms just milked that software until they were forced to put out something better.

now if win8 really does scale down to arm processors well, and you really can put the same OS on your pc and phones, then maybe they will spring back in the cell phone industry... but if they can actually pull that off then i would imagine they would dominate the entire os market again. well see....

Has MS ever had a really successful MOS? Other than a couple of years with pocketPC and the dreamcast running WinCE I dont think they really had a viable MOS. Or am I wrong? I never followed the mobile market since my dreamcast days.

 

[BladeVenom]

I don't think Android tablets will ever hold a significant marketshare. I just think it's too late.

Windows 8 tablets will be the dominate OS in a few years.

Too late??? Android is new to the tablet market and already the Nook and Fire are huge successes. Asus Transformer might also be a success.

Microsoft on the other hand has been trying to sell tablets for almost a decade with no success.

 

[theeedude]

The main reason they haven't made progress is that at the beginning the pricing has been too ambitious starting out at $400+. At that price, you want something tried and proven, not take a chance on a newcomer.
But now, non iPad tablets are in impulse purchase price range, where people will buy them just because for under half the price of an iPad, they are willing to take that chance. I got a Nook Color, Touchpad, and Iconia A500 for what an iPad 2 costs. Are they toys? Yeah. But for $200, I don't feel bad buying a new one and giving old one to a relative after playing with it for a few months, or having a 7 inch for reading e-books, and 10 inch for web browsing.
I expect that Android tablets are making market share inroads now.

 

[bearxor]

Too late??? Android is new to the tablet market and already the Nook and Fire are huge successes. Asus Transformer might also be a success.

Microsoft on the other hand has been trying to sell tablets for almost a decade with no success.

Its too late because i believe they're going to be sandwiched out of the market by Windows. The Nook and Fire aren't huge success unless you're only comparing them to other Android tablets.

i fully expect sub $300 Windows 8 tablets (Microsoft's decision to take a different avenue in tablets will payoff) by this time net year. By 2015, I'd suspect Android on a tablet will be a try niche market.

Just my opinion, of course, but ill still be around in a few years to see.

 

[mammador]

Hmm...

Android phones are made by numerous manufacturers. Only one company makes/sells iOS.

The iPad was first to market, and hence has gained the brand name/strength and pop culture appeal. The Galaxy Tab is good, yes, but the late Jobs made the iPad sexy.

It's not rocket science IMO to see why Android phones sell well, but Android tablets don't (relative to the iPad anyhow)

 

[theeedude]

Its too late because i believe they're going to be sandwiched out of the market by Windows. The Nook and Fire aren't huge success unless you're only comparing them to other Android tablets.

i fully expect sub $300 Windows 8 tablets (Microsoft's decision to take a different avenue in tablets will payoff) by this time net year. By 2015, I'd suspect Android on a tablet will be a try niche market.

Just my opinion, of course, but ill still be around in a few years to see.

Windows tablets have been around long before iPad and Android tablets, and they didn't sandwich anything out. The problem with Windows tablets is they are going to run applications written by Windows developers. The beauty of iOS and Android is that they CAN'T run desktop applications. Developer must leave the desktop mindset behind, start from scratch, and use touch and mobile API's. So all applications are developed specifically for the touch screen, which makes them pleasant to use. Windows applications are going to be written to run on as many Windows devices as possible, so developers will try to make them work on both tablets and laptops to maximize the market, and will thus compromise the experience.

 

[_Aurel_]

Its too late because i believe they're going to be sandwiched out of the market by Windows. The Nook and Fire aren't huge success unless you're only comparing them to other Android tablets.

i fully expect sub $300 Windows 8 tablets (Microsoft's decision to take a different avenue in tablets will payoff) by this time net year. By 2015, I'd suspect Android on a tablet will be a try niche market.

Just my opinion, of course, but ill still be around in a few years to see.

There's no evidence to support that history is going to repeat itself here. The only reason Microsoft kept a stranglehold on the PC market is because of legacy apps, and businesses. At least as far as app support goes, ARM-based Windows tablets look unlikely to have legacy-app support which leaves MS in an even worse position than their competitors.. unless you opt for the intel version and like carrying around something with fans on it (and look how much of a success that turned out for MS).

 

[micrometers]

Hmm...

Android phones are made by numerous manufacturers. Only one company makes/sells iOS.

The iPad was first to market, and hence has gained the brand name/strength and pop culture appeal. The Galaxy Tab is good, yes, but the late Jobs made the iPad sexy.

It's not rocket science IMO to see why Android phones sell well, but Android tablets don't (relative to the iPad anyhow)

I think the best explanation for android is carrier availability and price. I mean, you can get android on like virgin mobile and other discount carriers. And for some people I guess $50 or $100 on top of a 2 year cost of $2000 is a big deal.

I think the best explanation then is apps and polish. iOS is GPU accelerated in its UI while android is not. newest benchmarks show that the ipad 2 is still faster than the latest transformer prime in 3d tasks.

can I also suggest form factor? The ipad is 4:3 IIRC.