the tablet war is heating up

[Fast Learner]

Many people I've talked with won't even TRY something different. It's just "I want an iPad". If I point out they can have one that costs less, has a longer lasting battery, a keyboard that can be attached to it, expandable memory, full control, USB ports to connect to other devices, and a higher resolution screen........they want an iPad. It's just not rational.

Your test for rationality is based on the idea that this list of hardware differences makes that tablet better. I would argue that those are trivial differences, that what makes a tablet better is in fact a good OS and the available apps.

With ICS on less than 1% of Android tablets, it doesn't matter how good it is, does it?

(As an aside, which Android tablets have a better battery, since I think that is one thing that actually matters?)

 

[IronWolf]

Right.....and marketing has nothing to do with it?

Marketing certainly is at play. Marketing is not necessarily evil, though I can certainly see how some might feel bombarded by Apple ads. I don't watch much TV, so I can't even remember the last time I saw an Apple commercial.

Hardware wise, many of the Android devices are just as good.....or better.

In my opinion the Android devices will need to exceed iPad specs, not just match them at this point. I would have taken matched when the iPad first came out, not sure a matched set of hardware specs would convince me to switch at this point in and of itself.

The software is definitely catching up.

How is support for that software over the lifetime of the device? I am more familiar with some of the phones than tablets, but I sort of was burnt by buying a new phone and then having it become ineligible for updates 10 months or so into its useful life. That is an issue. Is an Android tablet purchased a year and a half ago still getting current software updates?

But Apple absolutely kills it in the apps, and that, I think, is the big difference. Android is just not there with ecosystem.

Yep - this is why I mentioned earlier, folks are less concerned with hardware specs. It is the ecosystem Apple brings to the table. It only takes an app or two to not exist on a platform to make people wonder why they paid X amount of dollars for their device when they could have bought the platform that runs the stuff they want to run. The Apple ecosystem is giving them a huge advantage and even entrenching them further as the leader.

For example, when I bought my tablet a year ago I was still on the fence - iPad or Android tablet. I chose iPad after looking at my available options. Now, to get me to to switch to an Android tablet would be much harder. I have apps on my iPad that I use and don't want to lose access to by switching tablet platforms.

If I point out they can have one that costs less, has a longer lasting battery, a keyboard that can be attached to it, expandable memory, full control, USB ports to connect to other devices, and a higher resolution screen......

Battery life is important. Beyond that a lot of these simply aren't issues to the typical user. Issues for some? Yes - but I don't think they are for your typical user.

I can attach a keyboard to my iPad if I want.

Expandable memory would be nice, but I really haven't had the need to do so on my iPad, especially with cloud services for file storage.

Full control simply isn't that important to people. It is the classic Linux versus Windows argument. A group of people do care about full control, but I don't think the majority do. Their tablet works, they already feel like they have full control because it does what they want, they don't want to dig deeper.

USB ports were my initial contention with the iPad when it was released. You would frequently hear me complain about them not being included. Time went by, nothing really stepped up and I bought the iPad. I haven't missed USB ports one bit. It just hasn't been an issue in the slightest.

I do think all the items you have listed could be important for some people in which case an Android device could be better. But I don't think these things matter to a lot of the tablet purchasers.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

USB ports were my initial contention with the iPad when it was released. You would frequently hear me complain about them not being included. Time went by, nothing really stepped up and I bought the iPad. I haven't missed USB ports one bit. It just hasn't been an issue in the slightest.

A USB port would have been nice, but like you say, in use, I haven't really missed it as a practical matter.

I still wish there was some kind of removable drive support- it would be cool to use the same mini-drives in my iPad as I do in my LG phone, Sony camera, and Tascam portable guitar amp modeler/practice rig/recorder- but with so many options still fighting in the market, I'm not surprised Apple decided to wait until the field clears.

 

[Felon]

Many people I've talked with won't even TRY something different. It's just "I want an iPad". If I point out they can have one that costs less, has a longer lasting battery, a keyboard that can be attached to it, expandable memory, full control, USB ports to connect to other devices, and a higher resolution screen........they want an iPad. It's just not rational. Same thing with iPhone. They go all giddy over Facetime for the first week, and then never use it again. You ask what apps they have and....they haven't really downloaded any. I've got an iPhone, and easily have 140 apps on it...but the people I know who speak more positively about the phone than I do barely have any. Why is that? Why have the phone if you're not going to use it?

It's like the Tickle me Elmo craze, but with computer equipment. It's just not logical.

Well-said. The iPad is simply fashionable to have, just as the Apple store is generally not populated with people looking to consume anything. Just there because it's a trendy place to be.

 

[Banshee16]

Success has its own inertia- that's one of the reasons why being the first good product in the market is so strongly correlated with having a successful company.

This is especially true when you want to talk about tech. One of the reasons why PCs outnumber Macs is that software advantage that started with the ability to run business software at home (as I recall, it was Lotus 1-2-3 that was the key program). That utility meant that there was a large market which the PCs filled perfectly. And that was an insurmountable obstacle for Apple ever being the #1 machine in the home computer market. Sure, it dominates in certain markets, but barring a megavirus that knocks out every non-Mac out there, that won't change.

As a Mac user, I can run most of the important programs of the day natively in Mac OS (according to some of my programmer buddies, sometimes better on the Mac than on PCs). For those I can't, I can run PC emulation software that is pretty dependable. Even so, sometimes, the Mac versions aren't as fully featured as PC versions. not as supported. Sometimes, the PC and Mac versions don't even speak to each other very well. (I've gone through this with spreadsheet programs and even financial software.)

PC users don't have to jump through those hoops- their compatibility is built in.

In the tablet market, the shoe is on the other foot. iPads run basically every app, so the early adopters went for it in droves. People who wanted to have 100% compatibility with their buddies' tablets gravitated towards the tablets their buddies had...usually iPads. That started the market domination snowball.

There ARE plenty of good tablets out there. There are some features I'd love to see on my iPad2 that are on some of the competition's machines...

But for what I do, and what I'm expecting to do in the near future, there really was no meaningful alternative to the iPads.

This is a perfectly cogent and logical answer. And, on several of your points, I can't disagree with you.

I know everyone talks about Microsoft.....but.....they're starting from *way* behind. That having been said, I'm hearing some really interesting ideas......XBox integration, convertible laptops similar to the Transformer, but where there's a second CPU in the keyboard itself, so when it's docked, it goes from a tablet with a dock to a device with two multi-core CPUs working together.

That's some interesting thinking....if they pull it off, it could change the landscape.

I've got no problem with people saying they like their iPad, or getting it because it's compatible with their friend's systems. My main beef is the contention that it's the only option, and that the other tablets are crap. I've been using my TF101 since August on a daily basis for work, and know that it's not crap. Further, it's been useful in a number of situations that my business partners iPads have not been. But, I don't have as many games. Honestly though, when I want to play games, I turn on my XBox or desktop PC.

There are also other numbers I've seen, showing that Android has caught up a little more than it seems, if you look at *global* numbers, instead of just the US market.

Heck, even the Playbook (particularly with OS 2.0) is much better than it's given credit for.

There's room enough for both types of devices.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Your test for rationality is based on the idea that this list of hardware differences makes that tablet better. I would argue that those are trivial differences, that what makes a tablet better is in fact a good OS and the available apps.

With ICS on less than 1% of Android tablets, it doesn't matter how good it is, does it?

(As an aside, which Android tablets have a better battery, since I think that is one thing that actually matters?)

The TF101 and TF210 tablets last longer *when docked*. Those are the key ones I'm aware of. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is just a tad shorter than the iPad 2.

Your statement regarding advantages can be correct *from your viewpoint* and *according to your needs*.

From my perspective, there are few iPad apps that I *need* that don't have a counterpart on Android....either an Android version of the exact same thing, or a competitor with similar feature set. What I miss out on are things that *to me* are fluff. Doesn't mean they're not useful for someone else....just no real benefit for me.

Whereas those hardware features that you list as of trivial importance have actually been very important for how I use my tablet.

It's the view that *Apple's figured out the best way to do things, and if you need something else, you're not realizing the power of your device, or you're using it wrong* that I find annoying. And I get this all the time from Apple fans.

I get it when I express frustration at things going wrong with my iPhone, and I get told "well you're using it wrong". Well, "I push this button here, and look, it crashes", or "hey how come I can't search for an e-mail and find it by typing in keywords related to the content of that e-mail"? "Oh, well, you don't really need to do that" or "I never search for emails, so I can't tell you".

They're definitely intriguing devices, but they're not perfect, and there are many users who need different features.

How about a notification LED to let me know I've got e-mail from a client that needs to be addressed?

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Marketing certainly is at play. Marketing is not necessarily evil, though I can certainly see how some might feel bombarded by Apple ads. I don't watch much TV, so I can't even remember the last time I saw an Apple commercial.



In my opinion the Android devices will need to exceed iPad specs, not just match them at this point. I would have taken matched when the iPad first came out, not sure a matched set of hardware specs would convince me to switch at this point in and of itself.



How is support for that software over the lifetime of the device? I am more familiar with some of the phones than tablets, but I sort of was burnt by buying a new phone and then having it become ineligible for updates 10 months or so into its useful life. That is an issue. Is an Android tablet purchased a year and a half ago still getting current software updates?



Yep - this is why I mentioned earlier, folks are less concerned with hardware specs. It is the ecosystem Apple brings to the table. It only takes an app or two to not exist on a platform to make people wonder why they paid X amount of dollars for their device when they could have bought the platform that runs the stuff they want to run. The Apple ecosystem is giving them a huge advantage and even entrenching them further as the leader.

For example, when I bought my tablet a year ago I was still on the fence - iPad or Android tablet. I chose iPad after looking at my available options. Now, to get me to to switch to an Android tablet would be much harder. I have apps on my iPad that I use and don't want to lose access to by switching tablet platforms.



Battery life is important. Beyond that a lot of these simply aren't issues to the typical user. Issues for some? Yes - but I don't think they are for your typical user.

I can attach a keyboard to my iPad if I want.

Expandable memory would be nice, but I really haven't had the need to do so on my iPad, especially with cloud services for file storage.

Full control simply isn't that important to people. It is the classic Linux versus Windows argument. A group of people do care about full control, but I don't think the majority do. Their tablet works, they already feel like they have full control because it does what they want, they don't want to dig deeper.

USB ports were my initial contention with the iPad when it was released. You would frequently hear me complain about them not being included. Time went by, nothing really stepped up and I bought the iPad. I haven't missed USB ports one bit. It just hasn't been an issue in the slightest.

I do think all the items you have listed could be important for some people in which case an Android device could be better. But I don't think these things matter to a lot of the tablet purchasers.

I'm not saying marketing is evil. That's not the point. I was just talking about the sheer *number* of ads. I'm online more than I watch TV, and they're in banners on tech blogs and other sites, they're in commercials on TV, they're in my local newspaper, in the local electronics stores, they tend to have full page insets for iPads vs nothing similar for the competition. Make no mistake, they're pushing them.

And, talking with store managers around here, Apple gives them conditions regarding how much they have to spend on marketing the iPad, to be allowed to carry it. So, make no mistake, consumers are hit on all sides.

Again, I'm not saying it's evil....but I *am* saying the disproportionate level of marketing spend has a definite impact on sales volume.

And, I agree, the features that are important to me, may not be to everyone. Apple's done a great job of assessing what the average user may need, and also convincing them they don't need any more.

As to things like attaching a keyboard....it's not the same thing. At all. And I say that of any aftermarket keyboards for any of the tablets. The Transformer's keyboard is an integrated part of the system. It's got its own battery that doubles the life of the device, it has Android specific function keys, it's foldable, has multi touch on a mousepad etc. There's a huge difference between that keyboard and any of the others. To compare the accessory keyboards for iPad or Playbook or Galaxy Tab 10.1 is like comparing the iPad 2 to the Pandigital tablet.

Now, that combo of tablet plus keyboard is not relevant to all consumers. I was just using it as an example, given it's what I have, and what I'm familiar with.

We'll see. Looking worldwide, I read that Android tablets had 48% of sales in Q4 of last year. So they're catching up. It's likely there's a real difference between the dominance of Apple within the US as opposed to outside of the US.

Again, I'm not saying the iPad is bad. It's a great product. But the competitors are making great products too....but have far less marketing to get their message across.

Banshee

 

[Chairman7w]

Remember, too - it's so much moore than just the product.

My iPad broke. Just wouldn't work. I took it to the Apple store and walked out with a replacement, that my iTunes was able to configure and reload all my stuff (even my photos that I thought I lost) and it was *painless*.

Their service is wonderful and their stuff hits all the right sweet spots with me.

 

[Chairman7w]

I've got an iPhone, and easily have 140 apps on it...but the people I know who speak more positively about the phone than I do barely have any. Why is that? Why have the phone if you're not going to use it?

Banshee

You really know people that have an iPhone with barely any Apps?

I don't. Apps are the whole reason for a smartphone.

 

[Janx]

Well-said. The iPad is simply fashionable to have, just as the Apple store is generally not populated with people looking to consume anything. Just there because it's a trendy place to be.

Really?

People just go to the mall and hang out at the Apple store. So they can be seen, hanging out at the Apple store?

While I suspect more than half of the world population is dumber than me, I do not think the Apple store is where shallow people hang out at.