Quote:
Originally Posted by mytdave
You know I agree with you, and I didn't want to imply that iOS was inferior or in trouble, my point is just that Honeycomb fixes the 'scaled up phone apps' problem of Android among other things, and that competitors have access to powerful hardware, whether it be Tegra 2 or OMAP4 chips.
Well, yes and no, Honeycomb is _supposed_ to fix the 'scaled up phone apps' problem, and even though the way by which it should do this remains conspicuously non-apparant to me, I suppose it probably has everything needed to write applications that are at least as good as on iOS. But that's not enough, someone first has to do it.
Personally, I'm a really big fan of almost all Apple hardware and software, and as a developer I absolutely love the tools I have at my disposal to create great applications with. But I'm not narrow-minded enough to refuse to refocus on other platforms if they attract my attention. The WebOS slate for example might turn out to be a very interesting platform.
Honeycomb on the other hand, to me is just a whole lot of hot air for now. I don't like how it looks, I don't know what it has that makes it so great, and I don't see the strategy, determination and vision behind it that I see with the iPad or the WebOS slate. It all seems too much like a tool to serve Googles interest, which is conveniently adopted by 100% hardware manufacturers like Samsung and LG, who don't have the resources or intent to develop or maintain a platform themselves. HP invested (I think) $2 billion dollars buying Palm, which to me lends them some credibility (and the funny thing is that I absolutely hated everything else coming from HP the last few years).
Samsung, LG, Motorola, MSI, on the other hand, they have nothing but hardware and buoys marketing clearly directed at the wrong audience (people who like technology for more than just how well it works in practice).
Quote:
Originally Posted by mytdave
hey can now build tablets that are 'good enough' to be serious contenders to the iPad. There is no shortage of people who compare products by their spec sheet - they don't know any better. Apple has to stay on top of these things to stay ahead.
I think everything is there for Honeycomb tablets to be serious iPad contenders, but I'm still extremely skeptical if someone will be able to get all the pieces together and actually grab that opportunity. Right now, I predict the various Android tablets will mainly compete against each other, the hardware manufacturers will be fast to abandon their products in favor of releasing new ones, rush unfinished products to the market and alienate customers while doing it.
Someone needs to step in an steer Android in one direction instead of mindlessly repeating the 'choice is good, Android is open, anything is possible' mantra. In terms of building a platform that can reach critical mass, you need direction, vision, long term strategy, and execution. Since Google doesn't make its own hardware, and the manufacturers that do are only interested in selling volume, not in building the platform, I don't know where any of this should come from.
So summarizing, I don't think Apple has a lot to worry from Android tablets for now, no matter how good the Android tablet hardware is, and no matter how much potential Honeycomb has.
