Sony unveils its first tablets in bid to compete with Apple's iPad - Page 2

Releasing updates more frequently cuts into profit margin and it opens the door to giving competition more of an idea of what you're up to.

So if the iPad2 is selling fabulously well in the fall, what is the point of releasing a new version at that time. Better to make lots of money through the Christmas season and then in the new year release an update that will pull ahead of whatever the competition has unveiled this fall. It is interesting that the competition is putting out product that is somewhat competitive with what Apple has already brought to market yet not able to keep pace with what Apple unleashes a few short months later. It's surprising, really, that this is happening because it doesn't take an engineer to figure out where Apple is headed. The iPad3 will be lighter, have more processing muscle, likely offer better display technology, feature better cameras, and toss in the odd wrinkle like making 3G or 4G standard across the board without increasing price. Of course battery life will be equal to or better than on the current model. Who knows, maybe find a way to bring Thunderbolt to the platform.

In order for a competitor to give Apple a good run, that competitor has to bring out a product that competes with the next iPad, not the one being sold when the competitor releases a new product. The target for tablets to be released in calender 2011 would need to be to give iPad3 a good run, not the iPad2. It doesn't appear that's going to happen and hence, Apple has no reason to give the iPad2 less than a year's worth of product cycle.

We saw this sort of scenario play out with MP3 players and it's beginning to look like deja vu all over again.

If non of this tech companies come up with something more original I am afraid apple will hold tablet market shares well above 90% in 2015.

Personally I am shocked, at the magnitude of all those companies failing to produce an iPad alternative, that has at least somewhat of a chance to get sold. But this announcement of Sony in spring to have something in autumn that, in their own terms, is not even to compete with the iPad, is just unbelievable. Sony used to be a great company.\

Just out of curiosity does anyone know how to pronounce Qriocity. What the hell kind of brand name is that? I know we'll get a sexy model with breach brond hair to promote it.

More like 18 months. The buzz from the original ipad set Apple up in the clouds and while the demand/supply issues for the ipad 2 haven't raised them up any it hasn't brought them down either. Meanwhile everyone else is still on the runway.

It's good to see folks trying but they really have to meet Apple's ipad and then beat it with something more if they want a chance. Rather than just do the opposite. So like more battery life than the ipad, a better camera, dual band 3g, pressure aware screen (doesn't even have to have that many levels, just like 5 would do better than the 0 on the ipad) and so on. Match the ipad and then add even one 'and then' feature and you have a chance.



they don't even need that. iOS 5 could be enough to supercharge the ipad 2 and make it the IT thing for the season

[quote]As it is I have this sneaky feeling that come time for the fall iPod release we will hear about an entirely new iOS device added to the iPod line up. {/QUOTE]

IF something comes I don't think it will be a new device. I think perhaps a revamp of the ipod touch. And yes it see it being possible that it could be more in the 5-7 inch range.

I'm guessing it 'Curiosity', it's some subscription music service, I installed it once for about 5 minutes on my PS3 then got rid of it very quickly. I hate how there's no way to exit those PS3 channels back to the menu system without turning the freaking thing off and on.

Agree. I imagine that Apple will even release a cheap iPad (cloud only, low screen resolution, slow CPU, etc., like iPod Nano/Mini in the MP3 world) to occupy the tablet market completely. This should happen only when the time is right. Apple doesn't need to rush it.

An off-center of gravity form factor and foldable dual-screen setup? So the former will be uncomfortable to hold in hand and the the latter cuts the display in half so you can make it a glorified netbook with virtual keyboard. What's next Sony? Tail fins?

I'm thinking more along the lines of releasing a future iPod Touch with a larger screen, maybe in the range of around 5 inches. Still portable but able to offer much of what can be had by going with a 7-inch tablet.

Seems to me that there could be room for both the current Touch form factor and a 5-inch bigger brother. Apple could argue that Jobs' rant re small form factors for tablets would still hold in that the 5-inch device would not be marketed as a smaller iPad but rather a larger Touch.

The Touch is a good device but with a little more screen, even better. Even an incremental boost in screen size would be welcome.

Are you joking? As you said in the same sentence, Qriocity is pronounced curiosity.

A few of us at another site pondered how to pronounce one of Garmin's new trucker gps models a few months back. The dezl. When it finally struck me late in the day it was one of those "duh" moments.

How many 10s of people will buy that S2 I wonder?

"Compete" indicates that there is some chance of success doesn't it?

And it's likely we've only scratched the surface of where Apple (with it's 66Billion in cash) will take the iPad in the next few years. I would imagine that the current iPad is like the 2nd Gen iPad with it's click wheel before the touch/flash storage came out. It should evolve exponentially in a couple of years.

I LOVED the click-wheel, the 4th Gen iPod is the biggest fail so far in Apple design, the one with the 4 buttons along the top, eugh!

Well done Sony. These are original and innovative.

Yes, sorry I should have put a smiley

Released this fall -- tells it all.

Gartner must have a "pull some numbers out of our butts" algorithm. First, the category of "media tablets" is already a proven misnomer as more and people - and Fortune 1000 companies - are doing much more than "consuming 'media'" with iPads - but more to the point here, this is the same company that said Microsoft was going to pass Apple (and I believe Android) in smartphones within a few years (in a report widely commented on here a week or three back).

And yet - knowing that MS is developing Win Tab 8 (2 versions of Win Tab 8 in fact) simultaneously with Win Phone 8 - and despite their past niche status, MS being the company with the most experience in the tablet space - MS is not even on THIS Gartner chart. Not even a 0.0%. WTF is up with that??

Note: WT8 is supposed to have an ARM version with a Metro skin - analogous to the distinction between the iOS variants on iPads and iPhones - enabling it to run limited versions of Office applications as well as regular and "tabletized" Win Phone 8 programs, AND an Intel slate version running full Windows with a Metro Skin translation - which will be able to run a fully touch enabled Office variant - and likely with a stylus, all other Win 8 programs (which haven't been re-skinned).

Is Gartner putting WT8 in some other "productivity slate" category populated only by MS?

But back to this cracked chart, the iPad is referred to in terms of "iOS" and not just as iPad, but I'm 99% sure they're not including that other non-phone iOS device, i.e., the iPod Touch? Gartner doesn't count it either in this category nor in phones, but I believe they do count the 5" Dell Streak and such in the media tablet box. But if there is a small "media tablet," it's certainly the Touch which has far more in common with the iPad and iPhone than it does with the iPod Nano, Shuffle and Classic.



As he said later, he was joking, but to complete his (unPC joke) he needed to say, "a sexy model with breach brond hair to plomote it."

a (No ethic offense intended - accents are accents, that's all.)





Yup on all counts. This will play out much more in Apple's favor than the phone market because it really depends far, far less on particular cellco partnerships, and less on cellcos in general. And people still have to commit actual money even on subsidized tabs - while many will see they don't need the huge cost of a contract for occasional months of 3G service on a device you don't want to hold up to your ear.

And yes, RIP the Sony of the 70's and '80's which lost its way in so many ways. 'Nother post for 'nother day, but new Apple execs should be required to read the history of Sony for all the case examples of what not to do once you have the cachet of an innovative, high-quality company known for unique and intuitive products.


For sure - I've been feeling that all year. If they keep both the Pads and iOS on yearly major refresh schedules, you get essentially a device with notable new capabilities twice a year - upgraded hardware in the spring which is reinvented by new fall software just in time for holiday sales madness.



Something, maybe yes. Doubt it'll be a tweener Pad this soon after the Gospel of Steve ruled that out. (Never say never, though). One thing more likely would be a minor to major refinement/reinvention of Apple TV (with apps and such).

Or the one I keep campaigning for (if apparently on my own) - an iPod Touch using the full case space of the phone to cram in optimizations as a camera - optical zoom, 1080p, more MP, etc. - plus of course full iOS and Wi-Fi phone variants.

Hey, how about Mitsubishi? Shipping, banking, cars, consumer electronics, cameras, aircraft, brewing....

It's not really that surprising. Despite the delusions of the Android faithful (a tiny but vocal minority), the primary reason for Androids success is not that it's a great mobile platform that users love, but that the carriers are pushing it like mad because it allows them to keep the degree of control they want. There really aren't any Android phones that compare with the iPhone.

But, the carriers are out of the loop in the tablet market, mainly because most people don't want another carrier contract for a tablet, and because people think of it as more like a PC than a smartphone. What we're seeing in the tablet market is the true appeal of Android, without a market skewed by carrier control.

I wonder how these guys manage to get people to pay them for that kind of projection. It's pure guesswork with no valid assumptions.

Bang on. And given that only the bottom-of-the-barrel Android tablets cost less than the iPad (due to lack of carrier subsidies), we get to see people choosing a tablet based on features and overall usability rather than cost alone. Which is a refreshing change from the cell phone market.

I actually kinda like the S2 design. It looks like it is about 2-1/2 inches or 3 inches wide when folded. That could be slipped into a back pocket or purse fairly easy. No special ($40- $60) covers or carrying cases needed. The screen would be crap for watching movies (compared to larger tablet screens), but it would still be better than watching movies or playing games on phones & iPods.

They should've called it the ME2.

Someone told Sony that there's gold in there hills! Gold rush!
Can anyone say Clie?

If you linked your credit card, you may want to change it, it may have been compromised in the malicious attack which has taken the Playstation network down for going on seven days now.

Sony is desperately copying Apple, and will sell some number of these tablets - the normal one anyway - maybe more than most of the other OEM's if it is great hardware.

but in spite of all Sony's efforts their ecosystem is just not good enough to compete with iPad. for good example, Sony also sells a new AppleTV copy device now, the SMP-N100, for about $90. it can be controlled with an iOS app even. but it uses DLNA to share media on your LAN - which is ok, but basic and no match for iTunes Sharing (now just Home, but soon cloud too). and it has nothing like AirPlay to use in connection with its tablet. it works best with Sony's Bravia TV's, but who is going to buy nothing but Sony TV's forever?

even worse for Sony is the failure of the ill-conceived PSP Go. their next gen PSP won't be ready until next year, and presumably will do media and apps too - via Android like the Xperia Play? - and so become a part of their ecosystem. but the iPod touch is already running away with the casual game segment of the PGP market now. and if Apple brings out a 5.5" version later this year - as well it might - Sony will be pushed to the just the smaller hard-core game segment.

so it's going to wind up like the iPod. Apple is going to hold 70+% of the tablet market indefinitely as long as it keeps improving all its iOS products as it has the last three years, and the all the other OEM's will split up the rest.

some explanation-

http://tinyurl.com/PSNpwnag3Rumour

Amen to that. Sony's ecosystem became too diverse. Cobblers should stick to their last, and leave others to sell socks, gumboots and pedicures.

Apple's greatest policy danger would be excessive diversification. Instead, they must allow the Belkin's, the Sandisks and other specialists to have a hook for their stuff to attach to Apple products.

Sony's PSN debacle points up the potential dangers of Apple's Cloud strategy. If I put all my stuff in the cloud and it goes down for a week or two, I'm going to want more than a months extension to my MobileMe account in compensation.

I've got a different story: I saved enough money in 1963 to buy a Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder. That thing was rugged and lasted for years, up until the late 70s when cassettes displaced the R2R. It wasn't an Ampex (the gold standard at the time) but its fidelity and mechanical operation was flawless. It lasted through deployment to different duty stations in Germany, abuse by roommates, the object of a couple of near-thefts, and many many hours of tape play time.

My thoughts as well though I'm a bit concerned how it's going to feel in portrait mode what with the CoG being off on one side.

Brings to mind the Dilbert cartoon where the Pointy-haired boss says that they need to work day and night to match the competitor's features within twelve months. Then, of course, Dilbert asks if they are catching up to where the competitor will be in a year (which is unknowable) or where are are now (which is stupid).

Which is why Apple will not release incremental product refreshes every few months, tipping their hand, and why Apple just might have a secret feature or two up its sleeve that catches the competition with their pants down at the next refresh.

I think you answered your own question. As for models with funny engrish hair, we'll have to see.

We need to print out this chart and use it at the fraud trial of the person who dreamed it up when 2016 rolls around.

Or LG (low grade, lotsa garbage) with their lawn mowers, refrigerators, garden hoses, fire hydrants, seat belts, coffee makers, car batteries, paper products, beach balls, NFL communications gear, outdoor thermometers, 35mm film, hockey pucks, dog kennels, the list goes on. "Whatever Abbey Rents, LG makes"

I'm buying one of these because it's got one thing the ipad will never have...







... an IR port.




Yes, that's right ladies and gentleman. This lovely little device will be the ultimate universal remote for ALL my electronics, not just the underwhelming apple tv (already have an xbox slim and ps3 slim), and will work with my sony surround sound system and tv. Apple will never look backwards at some old useful technology like the IR port and think, hey! this would make a great addition to our super slim gizmo! so it's destine to never ever serve a purpose in my living room.

like what? a smart diaper? ipad 2 was more proof you can sell people just about anything. OMG i need another way to buy stuff! please apple, help me waste all my money! pfft. low res cameras, smart diaper, new chip. no one was shocked when this hit.

ps3 > apple tv
s1 > ipad 2
amazon cloud player > itunes
dlna > airtunes and home sharing
android honeycomb > iOS for iPad

DLNA works with tons of devices. AirPlay works with almost nothing.
iTunes wont even sync all my purchased music to my authorized computers onto my iphone. DUMB. Like 1990's hair style dumb.
PS3 is a better media player than apple tv hands down and it's not even the best out there. XBox is king when it comes to media playback.
Lastly, the S1, if it actually ships with the IR port, will be the defacto couch potato universal remote. It plays games, surfs the web, CAN RUN FLASH, and it has an IR port so i can control all my stuff and finally chuck all my old remotes in a drawer somewhere.

So basically, your opinions are just opinions and easily aren't everyones. Don't count sony out just because you're so brand loyal you can't see a good thing when it hits.

[QUOTE=jeffreytgilbert;1854759]
ps3 > apple tv
s1 > ipad 2
amazon cloud player > itunes
dlna > airtunes and home sharing
android honeycomb > iOS for iPad/QUOTE]

You must have missed every memo of all time That lil list plays like a who's who of subpar apple competitors.

Say what you will about apple- they didn't get summarily ass pwn3d all month by hackers like Sony.

everyone's opinions here are just opinions. duh. needs saying?

i've used DLNA with my PS3 and TiVo. it is ok but the "lowest common denominator" by design and thus very limited in what it can do. dumb playback is about it. what about custom equalizer settings? what about your metadata? direct links to iTunes store or any store for more info? in no way is it an equivalent to Home Sharing, let alone AirPlay.

i've got one of the several IR universal remote accessories available for iOS devices. use it with my retired 2007 iPhone. so i beat you to it. but not for the PS3 of course, since that remote is blutooth, not IR. thanks Sony.

yes iTunes can make transfers between multiple libraries and different users and hardware difficult, even if they are all on the same computer/LAN. or your iOS devices if you did not get them all initially set up with the same iTunes account as all the computers. maybe that is your issue. Apple should make fixing these glitches easy, but it hasn't.

without AirPlay (or at least the iOS Remote app), except for the above AppleTV and the PS3 are otherwise similar to use as a "media player." they both have Netflix. but Remote and AirPlay add a whole other dimension to AppleTV - a much easier to use UI for it. there is no equivalent app for the PS3 - yet. best you can do is connect a blutooth keyboard for text entry at least.

most fun these days tho is mirroring the iPad on my HDTV via HDMI cable. don't even need the AppleTV. most aren't, but some apps are really nice to see on a big screen. and of course there is huge game potential there. the surprise tho is web browsing. i've tried the PS3 browser - it sucks - and used an HTPC for years, always somewhat clumsy due to the need for a mouse/keyboard. but now suddenly it is really simple to do since you are doing all the UI on the tablet where it is totally easy but seeing it blown way up on your TV.

glad FLASH makes you happy. since it is about all a mix and match hodgepodge setup can do that iOS will not ... as long as flash lasts. oh yeah, i forgot. Divex! another wave of the past.