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

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  • Reply 41 of 94
    rabbit_coachrabbit_coach Posts: 1,114member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    In April, research firm Gartner revealed that it expects Apple's iPad to continue to dominate the tablet market through 2015. The market is expected to grow to 294 million tablets in 2015, with Apple maintaining an estimated 47 percent market share.







    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.\
  • Reply 42 of 94
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    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.
  • Reply 43 of 94
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by markb View Post


    Hrm....Coming out this fall, 6 months behind competitors







    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.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    Seriously an iPad 3 in late September or the following month would give a lot of CEOs ulcers or worst. Just imagine a super iPad hitting the market just in time for Christmas shopping and to take all the media interest as the competitors start to release hardware.



    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.
  • Reply 44 of 94
    akf2000akf2000 Posts: 223member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by maccherry View Post


    I saw the Moto Xoom at staples last night and that Honeycomb is an effing disaster. The scrolling through web pages was on point but other than that it was a snoozefest!

    As for Sony, well expect their crap to be virtually DOA. Just like the pspgo.

    That clamshell option is stupid. What you going to do when that sh** breaks at the hinges?

    Lol!



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    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.



    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.
  • Reply 45 of 94
    jj.yuanjj.yuan Posts: 213member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Carmissimo View Post


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



    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.
  • Reply 46 of 94
    markbyrnmarkbyrn Posts: 661member
    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?
  • Reply 47 of 94
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jj.yuan View Post


    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.



    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.
  • Reply 48 of 94
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    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.



    Are you joking? As you said in the same sentence, Qriocity is pronounced curiosity.
  • Reply 49 of 94
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    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.
  • Reply 50 of 94
    dishdish Posts: 64member
    How many 10s of people will buy that S2 I wonder?
  • Reply 51 of 94
    "Compete" indicates that there is some chance of success doesn't it?
  • Reply 52 of 94
    dishdish Posts: 64member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jj.yuan View Post


    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.



    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.
  • Reply 53 of 94
    akf2000akf2000 Posts: 223member
    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!
  • Reply 54 of 94
    nkalunkalu Posts: 315member
    Well done Sony. These are original and innovative.
  • Reply 55 of 94
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ClemyNX View Post


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



    Yes, sorry I should have put a smiley
  • Reply 56 of 94
    tommcintommcin Posts: 108member
    Released this fall -- tells it all.
  • Reply 57 of 94
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tribalogical View Post


    Interesting projection. Gartner believes that tablet market sales volume will reach nearly 300,000,000 units annually by 2015? I suppose it's possible...



    Assuming a world population of about 7 billion people, that means roughly 4.25% of all humans on the planet will be buying a tablet in the year 2015?



    And, according to their projections, in the years between now and 2015, what % of humanity will have purchased one as well? 15%? More...?



    Are these numbers realistic?



    If they are, and Apple is seen as owning at or above 50% of that market until 2015...... well then. I guess it's time to buy their stock at any price.



    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.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    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.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ClemyNX View Post


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



    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.)



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    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.







    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rabbit_Coach View Post


    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.\



    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.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    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.

    ....



    iOS 5 could be enough to supercharge the ipad 2 and make it the IT thing for the season



    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.



    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.



    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.
  • Reply 58 of 94
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nvidia2008 View Post


    Hmm the issue with Sony is that it is way too diversified. Well, another day, yet another iPad "competitor". Will be watching this from the sidelines with relative disinterest.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shigzeo View Post


    Samsung are far more diversified than Sony will ever be, yet they do well. I hope, however, that Sony can pull something out.





    Hey, how about Mitsubishi? Shipping, banking, cars, consumer electronics, cameras, aircraft, brewing....
  • Reply 59 of 94
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rabbit_Coach View Post


    ... 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. ...



    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.
  • Reply 60 of 94
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tribalogical View Post


    Interesting projection. Gartner believes that tablet market sales volume will reach nearly 300,000,000 units annually by 2015? I suppose it's possible...



    Assuming a world population of about 7 billion people, that means roughly 4.25% of all humans on the planet will be buying a tablet in the year 2015?



    And, according to their projections, in the years between now and 2015, what % of humanity will have purchased one as well? 15%? More...?



    Are these numbers realistic?



    If they are, and Apple is seen as owning at or above 50% of that market until 2015...... well then. I guess it's time to buy their stock at any price.



    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.
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