Competitors to Apple's iPad risk issues with excess inventory

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 60
    alfiejralfiejr Posts: 1,524member
    you know that if Samsung, Motorola, and the rest had actual tablet sales figures that were good, or even respectable, they would have bragged about them by now. or at least reported numbers along with the financial quarterlies. but if they are embarrassing ...



    however, it is still too soon to conclude the tablet market will turn out like the "MP3 player" iPod market, with Apple holding 70+% indefinitely. by the end of this year we should see fully-baked Android and other OS tablets, not the half-baked models released so far. and their 4G infrastructure and various ecosystems and apps stores will be more filled out, putting them more on an even footing with the iPad in consumer usability.



    of course Apple won't be standing still either. we know some kind of iCloud and iOS 5 are coming. more content/capabilities for Apple TV are certain. but to really nail the market, one or more new Apple products would be conclusive. a bigger 5.5" iPod touch? or how about a Shuffle phone! it's the full range of Apple products that provides the crucial foundation for the iPad.
  • Reply 22 of 60
    curmudgeoncurmudgeon Posts: 483member
    I have high hopes for the HP TouchPad. I hope they sell enough to keep it in production. Nowadays though, it seems like products are abandoned early if they don't sell a gazillion units on the first weekend.
  • Reply 23 of 60
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Neo42 View Post


    What about the $399 Asus Transformer, which sold out within minutes on release and is impossible to find in stock since? It is pretty competitive to the iPad 2 in specification. It is a tiny bit heavier and thicker, but otherwise has twice the ram and equivalent storage (along with all of the expansion ports everyone hates Apple for not including like MicroSD, HDMI, USB with host support, etc). There is even a keyboard dock for it that has an extra battery and turns it into a netbook-like-thing. Doesn't look like Asus is having an excess inventory issue in this case. Ok, ok, I will go ahead and address the first knee jerk response "they only shipped [some relatively small number] units". Even so, there's a pretty clear demand for them, no?



    No, the first response should be "here's yet another tech-head drive-by poster preaching the same tired speech that specs are more important than the entire package. "



    Let me guess, you were probably someone that was preaching the superiority of the XOOM tablet over the iPad in terms of specs... right up to the point you shut your mouth and scurried to a corner when the supposedly "superior" tablet was no faster than a crippled one-year-old A4 iPad! Add to the insult a half-baked Android Honeycomb OS that is better off being used in some nerds' basement, and a flop in the retail space.



    "Everyone hates Apple for not including <insert kitchen sink here>" confirms you are trolling. "Everyone" is scooping up iPads and as Apple announced, the have the "Mother of all backlogs". Time to accept reality that your opinion on what constitutes a successful product is useless to say the least.



    Apple is hitting home runs and thinking long-term. The rest of the market is competing for scraps and against each other. Until they realize the strategy is for all to collaborate (not going to happen) and come up with an elegant ecosystem and fluid, simple interface system, they are going to keep falling face-first on concrete.
  • Reply 24 of 60
    tontontonton Posts: 14,067
    Actually, I'm far more interested in Apple as a customer than as a shareholder, so I really do hope these products do better than they have done so far.



    Apple's never been a company to rest on their laurels, but a little competition wouldn't hurt.
  • Reply 25 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Neo42 View Post


    What about the $399 Asus Transformer, which sold out within minutes on release and is impossible to find in stock since? It is pretty competitive to the iPad 2 in specification. It is a tiny bit heavier and thicker, but otherwise has twice the ram and equivalent storage (along with all of the expansion ports everyone hates Apple for not including like MicroSD, HDMI, USB with host support, etc). There is even a keyboard dock for it that has an extra battery and turns it into a netbook-like-thing. Doesn't look like Asus is having an excess inventory issue in this case. Ok, ok, I will go ahead and address the first knee jerk response "they only shipped [some relatively small number] units". Even so, there's a pretty clear demand for them, no?



    Even if the hardware is decent, if the OS and software aren't up to par (that whole ecosystem thingy) you don't have a strong market capture scenario. Only geeks chase specs and features, the average user, which is the largest and most profitable part of the market, looks for ease of use, convenience and durability. This is where the strength of the ecosystem comes to bear, and why these "competitors", so far, has not produced a strong competitor. The Playbook has a chance (because RIM understands ecosystem) as does the HP Slate on WebOS - assuming the Palm div. gets a strong selection of apps delivered as well. RIM is challenged in trying to leverage the Android Marketplace on top of its own stuff - we have yet to see an operational unit demonstrating how strong this is. Google at least recognized that they needed to intervene in the whole Honeycomb debacle, but I don't see them staying with Android for very long on tabbies - ChromeOS is being pushed into the picture for the future. Fragmentation galore.



    Just as a couple of side notes "everyone" doesn't "hate" Apple for not including a plethora of ports, that's rather silly, the Tegra 2 isn't a significantly better performer than the ARM9 in the iPad 2, and the whole extra battery docking thing has been handled by the iPad as well, so net effect is not a clear improvement on what the iPad brings to the table. Unless you are completely wed to NOT being in the iOS ecosystem.
  • Reply 26 of 60
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by _BeAsTMaSteR_ View Post


    People don't want tablets, they want ipads. And it's getting more and more noticable as time goes on.



    I'm beginning to think people regarding tablet as a computer. And in computer there are only 2 big names: Microsoft and Apple. Android is nice but it will never integrate well with Windows while iOS coming closer to OSX every day. I think if XOOM running Windows for ARM it might have more chance of success.

    I mean why do you want Android when it will integrate with nothing but internet services?
  • Reply 27 of 60
    ecphorizerecphorizer Posts: 533member
    I just had an email conversation with a lady friend of mine who lives in SF. It began when I got an email with the signature stating "Sent from my Galaxy Tab." I questioned her about that and her answer was basically, that it fit nicely into her purse and it did everything she needed it to do without the need to go buy any addon apps. We didn't get around to price. She's a non-technical consumer who didn't want to wait weeks for an iPad so she got what she considered the next best option. I guess if she's happy with what she bought, then there's no argument.
  • Reply 28 of 60
    neo42neo42 Posts: 287member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fecklesstechguy View Post


    Even if the hardware is decent, if the OS and software aren't up to par (that whole ecosystem thingy) you don't have a strong market capture scenario. Only geeks chase specs and features, the average user, which is the largest and most profitable part of the market, looks for ease of use, convenience and durability. This is where the strength of the ecosystem comes to bear, and why these "competitors", so far, has not produced a strong competitor. The Playbook has a chance (because RIM understands ecosystem) as does the HP Slate on WebOS - assuming the Palm div. gets a strong selection of apps delivered as well. RIM is challenged in trying to leverage the Android Marketplace on top of its own stuff - we have yet to see an operational unit demonstrating how strong this is. Google at least recognized that they needed to intervene in the whole Honeycomb debacle, but I don't see them staying with Android for very long on tabbies - ChromeOS is being pushed into the picture for the future. Fragmentation galore.



    Just as a couple of side notes "everyone" doesn't "hate" Apple for not including a plethora of ports, that's rather silly, the Tegra 2 isn't a significantly better performer than the ARM9 in the iPad 2, and the whole extra battery docking thing has been handled by the iPad as well, so net effect is not a clear improvement on what the iPad brings to the table. Unless you are completely wed to NOT being in the iOS ecosystem.



    Anyone who likes having to use adapters to plug in camera/SD card or to an external display is straight up lying . Maybe not everyone hates Apple for it, but anyone who's got any capacity of independent thought will have some minor frustration over the "you get no ports, no expansion" aspect of the iPad. No reason to beat around the bush here, it is Apple's advantage to hinder expandability where it could be implemented so easily.



    Like it or not, Android market share is growing and while I won't argue that iOS is inferior (it is clearly superior in ease of use and efficiency), it is undeniable that Honeycomb is offering a broader set of features in their platform (multitasking previews, widgets, usb host mode, openness, bla bla bla). I don't know where you are getting the idea that Google will abandon Honeycomb. It may not be perfect but based on what I've seen it does a ton of things iOS doesn't and plenty fast, regardless of specs. Every fan of Apple's stuff will continue to scream fragmentation, but sometimes the trade off is worth the lack of frustration that iOS can bring to a power user.



    That all being said, most people aren't power users. I do still get a little bent out of shape when I have no option to view flash, read external media or just simply manage content on the device. Its those times that I envy those w/ android tabs.
  • Reply 29 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Neo42 View Post


    What about the $399 Asus Transformer, which sold out within minutes on release and is impossible to find in stock since? It is pretty competitive to the iPad 2 in specification. It is a tiny bit heavier and thicker, but otherwise has twice the ram and equivalent storage (along with all of the expansion ports everyone hates Apple for not including like MicroSD, HDMI, USB with host support, etc). There is even a keyboard dock for it that has an extra battery and turns it into a netbook-like-thing. Doesn't look like Asus is having an excess inventory issue in this case. Ok, ok, I will go ahead and address the first knee jerk response "they only shipped [some relatively small number] units". Even so, there's a pretty clear demand for them, no?



    I like it, personally. A little unpolished and rough around the edges from what I've played with - much like other Honeycomb tablets - but competition is good. Some people would rather the microSD/HDMI/USB/keyboard of the Transformer, others would rather the iOS ecosystem. Android will always have its followers. Let them enjoy what they have; "a notification system that doesn't suck" springs to mind. (Apple, I love you baby, but why you gotta make me hit you every time you do that popup?)



    Spec wars though, the Geforce ULP gets it ass handed to it by the SGX543MP2, and I like to game on the go, so I know which one I like better.
  • Reply 30 of 60
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Neo42 View Post


    Anyone who likes having to use adapters to plug in camera/SD card or to an external display is straight up lying . Maybe not everyone hates Apple for it, but anyone who's got any capacity of independent thought will have some minor frustration over the "you get no ports, no expansion" aspect of the iPad. No reason to beat around the bush here, it is Apple's advantage to hinder expandability where it could be implemented so easily.



    Like it or not, Android market share is growing and while I won't argue that iOS is inferior (it is clearly superior in ease of use and efficiency), it is undeniable that Honeycomb is offering a broader set of features in their platform (multitasking previews, widgets, usb host mode, openness, bla bla bla). I don't know where you are getting the idea that Google will abandon Honeycomb. It may not be perfect but based on what I've seen it does a ton of things iOS doesn't and plenty fast, regardless of specs. Every fan of Apple's stuff will continue to scream fragmentation, but sometimes the trade off is worth the lack of frustration that iOS can bring to a power user.



    That all being said, most people aren't power users. I do still get a little bent out of shape when I have no option to view flash, read external media or just simply manage content on the device. Its those times that I envy those w/ android tabs.



    I wish you people would come up with something new and original than the same old stuff.



    Yawn.
  • Reply 31 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    I wish you people would come up with something new and original than the same old stuff.



    Yawn.



    Because belittling your potential customer base is a great way to win them over. Never mind that the guy seems to already own an iPad.



    The reason the "same old arguments" keep coming up is because people have been asking for them for years, and Apple hasn't implemented them. Ergo, Android found a niche.



    If Apple had listened, they might have totally eaten Android's lunch rather than just taking their drink and fruit cup.
  • Reply 32 of 60
    futuristicfuturistic Posts: 599member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Twelve View Post


    Would you buy a Xoom for US$9.99?



    Eh. Sure. Why not?
  • Reply 33 of 60
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Urinal Mint View Post


    If Apple had listened, they might have totally eaten Android's lunch rather than just taking their drink and fruit cup.



    How can they eat Android lunch when it was available on one carrier vs all have Android?
  • Reply 34 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by matrix07 View Post


    How can they eat Android lunch when it was available on one carrier vs all have Android?



    Hell if I know, I'm just proposing an alternate reality where Apple listened to customer feedback.
  • Reply 35 of 60
    hill60hill60 Posts: 6,992member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Urinal Mint View Post


    I like it, personally. A little unpolished and rough around the edges from what I've played with - much like other Honeycomb tablets - but competition is good. Some people would rather the microSD/HDMI/USB/keyboard of the Transformer, others would rather the iOS ecosystem. Android will always have its followers. Let them enjoy what they have; "a notification system that doesn't suck" springs to mind. (Apple, I love you baby, but why you gotta make me hit you every time you do that popup?)



    Spec wars though, the Geforce ULP gets it ass handed to it by the SGX543MP2, and I like to game on the go, so I know which one I like better.



    The notification system on Android sucks, a barely legible symbol on a small bar at the top of the screen, that just sits there until it's swiped down.



    The number of users I've seen who don't understand how this works is astounding.
  • Reply 36 of 60
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Urinal Mint View Post


    Hell if I know, I'm just proposing an alternate reality where Apple listened to customer feedback.



    There is hope. They gave you option for orientation lock, remember?
  • Reply 37 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hill60 View Post


    The notification system on Android sucks, a barely legible symbol on a small bar at the top of the screen, that just sits there until it's swiped down.



    The number of users I've seen who don't understand how this works is astounding.



    I'd rather have a small, unobtrusive, quiet little bar that I can ignore if I'm in the middle of something rather than get a half-dozen notifications puked sequentially in the middle of my screen while I'm in the middle of something that won't go away until they get their proverbial cookie and pat on the head. Yes, I want to address your alert, Calendar, but let me finish my sentence/note/drawing/level here.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by matrix07 View Post


    There is hope. They gave you option for orientation lock, remember?



    True!
  • Reply 38 of 60
    neo42neo42 Posts: 287member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post


    No, the first response should be "here's yet another tech-head drive-by poster preaching the same tired speech that specs are more important than the entire package. "



    Let me guess, you were probably someone that was preaching the superiority of the XOOM tablet over the iPad in terms of specs... right up to the point you shut your mouth and scurried to a corner when the supposedly "superior" tablet was no faster than a crippled one-year-old A4 iPad! Add to the insult a half-baked Android Honeycomb OS that is better off being used in some nerds' basement, and a flop in the retail space.



    "Everyone hates Apple for not including <insert kitchen sink here>" confirms you are trolling. "Everyone" is scooping up iPads and as Apple announced, the have the "Mother of all backlogs". Time to accept reality that your opinion on what constitutes a successful product is useless to say the least.



    Apple is hitting home runs and thinking long-term. The rest of the market is competing for scraps and against each other. Until they realize the strategy is for all to collaborate (not going to happen) and come up with an elegant ecosystem and fluid, simple interface system, they are going to keep falling face-first on concrete.



    whoa I missed your post, sorry. SPoken like a true Apple Evangelist! Look, I'm actually a fan of Apple, and technology in general. I am a minority because I'm much more techy than the general public. It's incredible how polarizing each camp can be because neither android folks nor apple folks can see past the shortcomings of their platform. Anyway, thanks for the laughs.
  • Reply 39 of 60
    neo42neo42 Posts: 287member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    I wish you people would come up with something new and original than the same old stuff.



    Yawn.



    The fact that complaints are OLD complaints just reinforces that Apple doesn't listen to their customers PERIOD. Whats that? you want something that is obviously missing? NO no please stop thinking and let us tell you how to use our gimped product.
  • Reply 40 of 60
    neo42neo42 Posts: 287member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Urinal Mint View Post


    Because belittling your potential customer base is a great way to win them over. Never mind that the guy seems to already own an iPad.



    The reason the "same old arguments" keep coming up is because people have been asking for them for years, and Apple hasn't implemented them. Ergo, Android found a niche.



    If Apple had listened, they might have totally eaten Android's lunch rather than just taking their drink and fruit cup.



    Holy crap looks like I've encountered the first person here who's not a drone
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