Acer unveils Windows, Android tablets to compete with Apple's iPad - Page 2

Baaaaaaaa

By the way... that's Mr. Sheep to you.

Only after I get a blue screen and throw it across the room in frustration!

In this case I think you can. After all, unlike Windows 1.0 Microsoft hasn't copied from Apple and rewritten their OS ground up for touch devices.

Nor it seems has Adobe with the touted "we support Flash on OUR tablet"

These things could have a major effect on the user experience and could kill things in terms of mega sales


To a degree you are correct. the Ipad will be the portable for many folks. However, while it wouldn't hurt to bump up the processor, ram etc, the ipad will never be THE only portable. It's just not made to work for some tasks. Sure when I'm on set I have my script, call sheets, costume sketches, storyboards etc on the ipad. works great. But when we sit down to start rough editing the footage we are not going to be doing it on the ipad. We are going to be doing it on a minimum 17 inch screen, if only because the software has too many dang bars, palettes etc for less than that. And we don't want folks punching fingers on what we are trying to watch, so the form of an ipad just doesn't work.

Speaking of things that don't work. How about, after all the complaints about the size and weight of the ipad, making a tablet that is bigger on both counts. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

And then there is the whole release date issue. Most of these companies are a fail just for not having them in the stores today. Friday is THE shopping day of the year. If your goods aren't present you can forget major sales figures. With Oprah giving her blessing to the ipad on her show the other day you can bet that Apple doubled the ipad stock in their stores for friday, and many stores could still sell that out. If HP, Acer etc had established a presence for folks to see their stuff when they are Black Friday shopping, perhaps they'd have a shot at making a ding in the ipad sales. But they haven't, so what are folks going to buy. The thing they can get their hands on right then.

Plus releasing their stuff in that Feb-April window could prove hazardous. Let's get real. Just because iPad 1.0 didn't hit the shelves until April doesn't mean this one will do the same. They could release it in February right on top of this Windows 7 tablet. They could even announced it in January. Depending on the specs, a lot of folks that got the ipad 1.0 will certainly buy and a lot of the 'if only' naysayers will buy. Because they know this product and they won't be killing time playing with other things while they wait for the new ipad to show up.

The real threat to Apple here is the general public is not informed enough to know the difference between an iPad and a Wannabe. The general public will buy the cheap look alikes and have a negitive experience, share that experience with friends who are potential buyers and cause them to not buy at all.

Unable to raise a horse of their own, Acer places bets on all of the others.

... unless they watch Oprah.

... now if we can only get Judge Judy to use an iPad...

Well, actually, it IS just Apple. All these companies are in competition with each other as well, but they are not innovating like Apple is. Giving credit to them for Apple's innovation just doesn't make sense.

And look where the iPhone is now second to the Android. its been real iPad. It must suck for Jobs to see his gadgets becoming irrelevant.

If netbooks are so much more powerful, useful than tablets than why would Acer even consider jumping into this market. Surely this must a mistake.

The general public isn't aware of these tablets because they aren't even on the market yet. The iPad also has incredible brand recognition. It works the opposite way you explained, many people would buy an iPad not knowing that viable competitors even exist (or at least may exist the the future).

Another new poster comparing HW to an OS. This has to be the work of another TeckSpud or iGenius alias.

If Acer is as successful with their tablets as they think they will be then the tabs will cannibalize their netbook sales.

Hey! Who said Acer has bright executives... the flip flop attitude towards tablets says it all.

who R the sheep??? the 5% (or less) using macs or the 95% (or more) using windoze (alas in different plastic casings)? Using macs I've always felt struggling against the stream, thou worth it cuz thinkin different is a bless.

This might be a sign that netbook sales across the board are bad. They were a good buy for your money in terms of performance or capabilities. You could buy a PC for a little more that was many times more powerful. I think people are realizing that for a satellite computer, a tablet is much a better option than a netbook.

Probably not. That handle has much lower self esteem than the two you mention. There are lots more trolls where they came from.

iPad is cheap. Atleast, Steve wants you think it is.

They basically created a convertible/detachable netbook which is what they are anyway popular for.

Yes, keep adding ports and docks and slots and cameras...because we could care less about the UI.

Do these companies not get it?

Any of us could buy peripheral-packed knockoffs at Fry's for the last 10 years.

Ten USB ports? Check. Five SD card slots? Check. Seventeen cameras? Check. Fifty-two HDMI ports? Check.

Excellent UI? Ummm, we'll get back to you on that. It's so much easier to add commodity peripherals and slots. Software development requires in-house expertise. So, once again, we'll get back to you on that.

I think they now get it, I just dont think they have the resources to make it happen.

Some observations.

Jobs said several years ago that Apple would be working towards making computers the hub for a digital liifestyle and also said at the time that Apple was uniquely positioned in that it's really the only company doing software and hardware.

Saying the iOS closed system is a weakness betrays a lack of understanding of what it is that makes Apple's products so appealing. Because it's one source for the hardware and the OS, you get a system that, for the most part, works rather well. When problems do crop up, it's much easier and quicker for Apple to correct that problem because it has such tight control over the entire process.

Let's face it, the average consumer would just as soon not deal with the intricacies of putting in place what's needed to make something work properly. Apple provides products that just work. If you buy an iPad and that iPad does what you want it to, with lots of easy-to-acquire software available for a great price, what possible reason could there be to lament that you're using a closed system.

Let that exceedingly small percentage of consumers who revel in the complexities of living with a fractured, uneven experience seek out open systems to master. The rest of us are more inclined to buy product that makes life easier.

In regards to all the announcements for products that are months away, the logic is that if you can convince a consumer eyeing the iPad to delay buying one, that's a potential customer for whatever tablet device one can bring to market at some future date. It buys time. Apple will counter by bringing out a major update of the iPad right after the Christmas shopping season. Apple's goal will be to release an iPad Version 2 that is so compelling many will abandon waiting on all the promised devices and looking at it longer term, offer a product that the competition can't touch.

It is no surprise that Apple was the first to market with a viable consumer-friendly tablet. What is a surprise and what must have the competition despairing is that Apple delivered a first-generation tablet with a generous 9.7" screen in combination with a compelling price. As we're discovering as pricing starts to be revealed for upcoming devices, no other manufacturer, right now, knows how to deliver a tablet the size of the iPad at anywhere near that device's starting price. My theory regarding all the emphasis on the 7" form factor is that what companies like Acer are looking at is the time when they'll be able to offer $200 tablets to undercut Apple's more upscale products. If you can get away with a smaller screen, that's a cost saving.

Answer: Acer is panicked that Samsung may get a lock on "branding" the Android tablet market with its Galaxy tab. So, just like RIM, they announce a product way early. "Don't forget about us!" Acer figures it will be able to beat Samsung and the rest on price, just like it does with notebooks. they also have to wait for a tablet ready version of Android next year because they can't write their own front end software in-house like Samsung can.

Acer isn't really thinking about Apple or iPad2 at all, despite the trash talk. it knows it can't compete with premium Apple products, as that guy admitted earlier this year. its business goal is instead to be #1 in the low-price segment of the commodity device Windows/Android markets with the cheapest stuff that works ok (mostly). Remember, globally the low-price segment is huge, much more important than it is in the US.

but these business realities won't stop the hit-whoring media from trying to hype these Acer products as "iPad killers."

Do the new Acer machines have a USB port? The most Apple-ish thing about the Ipad is that it's an absolutely CLOSED computing environment, making it essentially useless from my perspective. Hoping the Acer doesn't suffer from the same level of proprietary paranoia.

Aren't you the same guy that tried to break into my house last week??!!

Baaaaaaaaaa

That's the target market

that would be laughably ludicrous if true. Apple is rev'ing up its best-in-the-world hype/marketing machine to push iPad holiday sales. bringing the 4.2 update on-line, which guaranteed massive media coverage, the week before the holiday sales season starts is the well-timed big hype. next will come a wave of new iPad TV ads, plus all other media too (do you see all the iPad poster ads around town?). and most clever of all, do you see the top TV series episodes where the heros use iPads for something neat? like on NCIS last night? (what did that cost Apple?).

up against this, Apple marketing vs. Acer's announcing is not even Goliath vs. David. it's like Goliath vs. an ant.

iPad is not designed as a high productivity device and anyone who needs high productivity also has a full computer. If a person without a computer bought an iPad and had someone else activate it, their required feature set would be much lower than yours and certainly wouldn't include a USB port.

The main obstacle for using an iPad as a high productivity device is not its lack of ports but instead its lack of a user accessible file system. Once you accept the limitations of the device the sooner you'll start having fun with it.

Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We now have 3 each in my Household!

My Acer Tablet has quickly become the first gadget I reach for when I head out the door (next to my Samsung Tab, my HP Slate, and my Samsung Fascinate) - It's Near-Perfect - IMO.

"I'm a PC and crappy looking knockoffs are my idea."

I really like the look of this, but I can already tell it is going to be too expensive and since every model has 3g, it looks like it is going the Samsung route in having cell providers subsidize the cost to make it affordable.

um, actually the iPad dock connecter IS also a USB port. which is why you can plug cameras and recording devices into it with an adapter to download, and all those docking accessories work with it.

i get that you would like it instead to be an all purpose USB like a computer. but of course that is not what the iPad is all about - it is not an all purpose computer. so don't get one.

Welcome to the forum

Perfect!!!
ROFLMFAO

Shel Silverstein said it best:


All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin' in the sun,
Talkin' 'bout the things
They woulda coulda shoulda done...

But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little Did.

-Shel Silverstein-

or DaHarder etc etc ..,

actually I don't believe "he" even exists, I was just using the same language as the first guy

But if he did exist, you KNOW he would have an ipad.

You should stick to the engadget forums, rather than troll the Appleinsider ones.

Oh please. There's only a little truth in what you say. I know this is an Apple fan site, and your way of thinking gets stretched to say the least, but don't blatantly ignore reality.

Even if everyone just copies Apple, how does that not constitute competition!?

Competition is what has spurred Apple's innovation first and foremost. Whether it's from from knock offs, or true competing innovators. No company has ever continued to innovate when their current business model had no competition. That's the beauty of capitalism: There will ALWAYS be competition moving things forward. This is why I hate republicans who hand over power to large corporations, undermining the capitalistic system, and stifling competition and innovation, but I digress...



No, it ISN'T. Intel for instance is doing great things. You just aren't paying attention.

And btw "Giving credit to them for Apple's innovation just doesn't make sense." straw man. Clearly I'm giving credit to Apple's competition for Apple's motivation. The credit for their innovation, or any company's innovation for that matter goes to the innovator!

Is 3 your lucky number. Do you always get everything in 3 for yourself.
Curious how to do fund yourself for all these, you should be getting paid.