the tablet war is heating up

[Felon]

In the traditional sense of "stupidly high" or "stupidly expensive" or "stupidly popular". Meaning something equivalent to "in excess of what a rational assessment would justify".

 

[Fast Learner]

What's a non-stupid amount?

 

[Banshee16]

What's a non-stupid amount?

Something lower than the current stupid number

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

The camera is now 5MP. There's a 4G option. That's about it. And for a stupidly high number of people, that will be enough.

Yes....a friend of mine just bought his iPad 2 a few months ago. The day after the "new ipad" was announced, he posted on Facebook he's looking for someone to buy a used iPad 2.

Talk about a way to blow money.

Banshee

 

[Alan Shutko]

Talk about a way to blow money.

Not necessarily a lot, though. I've seen enough people who take very good care of their devices, keep the box and everything, and can upgrade to the new devices when they come up for a net of under a hundred dollars. Apple devices have really good resale value.

 

[Felon]

What's a non-stupid amount?

In a perfect world--or, for that matter, in the Asain markets--you'd see numbers that indicate customers are promoting healthy competition between brands rather than slavish devotion to one or--what is even more prominent--blind consumption of whatever has the most buzz at the moment. We wouldn't see huge spikes in disparity between, say Apple and Samsung tablets that are fairly close in specs. We wouldn't see the Fire outselling the Nook by leaps and bounds, despite the baken-in limitations of the former that the latter doesn't have. Or, going outside of tablets, you'd see the PS3 performing better in sales against the Xbox, and we wouldn't have had a couple of years of Wii's selling for $1000 on eBay and now they gather inordinate amounts of dust on store shelves.

The American market is simply not very savvy at consumption, because when it comes to products, it's easier to go with a brand than to educate yourself about feature sets. All that leads to lopsided numbers that can be best be described as "stupidly high".

 

[Felon]

Yes....a friend of mine just bought his iPad 2 a few months ago. The day after the "new ipad" was announced, he posted on Facebook he's looking for someone to buy a used iPad 2.

Talk about a way to blow money.

Banshee

Not necessarily a lot, though.

In other words, not a "stupidly large" amount.

 

[IronWolf]

In a perfect world--or, for that matter, in the Asain markets--you'd see numbers that indicate customers are promoting healthy competition between brands rather than slavish devotion to one or--what is even more prominent--blind consumption of whatever has the most buzz at the moment. We wouldn't see huge spikes in disparity between, say Apple and Samsung tablets that are fairly close in specs. We wouldn't see the Fire outselling the Nook by leaps and bounds, despite the baken-in limitations of the former that the latter doesn't have. Or, going outside of tablets, you'd see the PS3 performing better in sales against the Xbox, and we wouldn't have had a couple of years of Wii's selling for $1000 on eBay and now they gather inordinate amounts of dust on store shelves.


The American market is simply not very savvy at consumption, because when it comes to products, it's easier to go with a brand than to educate yourself about feature sets. All that leads to lopsided numbers that can be best be described as "stupidly high".

It comes down to more than just specs though, it comes down to entire ecosystems and the support behind the devices as well.

I *wanted* to buy an Android device and waited about a year before I finally gave in and bought an iPad (G1 on sale). When Apple initially released the iPad I was like, cool - now I just wait for the Android knock-off to come along and let me do the things I want with it (at the time I had a desire for USB ports). But I waited and really nothing came along in that time frame that made me want to part with the money for an Android device. So I bought the iPad. I haven't regretted it at all.

I wanted a low fuss device with the apps I wanted or the apps that I didn't know I wanted yet. Now I have a great tablet that does everything I want it to do. I haven't gone looking for an app yet and found that it was only available for "the other platform" and I can use my tablet daily for a large number of tasks. With cloud integration through dropbox or other such service I really don't have a need for USB or at least I haven't regretted not having USB access.

Hardware specs are just one part of the equation and certainly not the whole picture.

It is even evident with you Kindle Fire. With that you get the Amazon ecosystem. Some folks had already bought into that before the devices came out, now with a device it is just the natural choice. People don't want to fight hurdles and just want things to work. Sometimes a well put together ecosystem of support behind the device matters as much as the device itself for the user experience.

I wouldn't say I am unsavvy shopper. I waited for a year for Android devices to try to catch up and deliver the full experience. I'm less concerned with horsepower, specs, etc in these tablets than I am about the experience as a whole. For me the Apple won out easily even at a higher price point. The brought a product that delivered to my needs.

Now it has been sometime since I have looked seriously at the different options as my iPad has been keeping me happy. But I do keep up with this thread and I have yet to see any device mentioned that makes me think I should have gone with a different device.

I have nothing against the Android tablets, but to call American buyers unsavvy because they went with Apple is shortsighted. Sure some people buy it because its Apple. Just like some people buy Android because its Android. We have choices and folks can choose what they want - that doesn't make either device use unsavvy in their decision.

 

[Fast Learner]

In a perfect world--or, for that matter, in the Asain markets--you'd see numbers that indicate customers are promoting healthy competition between brands rather than slavish devotion to one or--what is even more prominent--blind consumption of whatever has the most buzz at the moment.

With this system of wisdom, how do you discern the difference between "slavish devotion" and "actually better, even if you don't agree"?

 

[Felon]

It comes down to more than just specs though, it comes down to entire ecosystems and the support behind the devices as well.

I *wanted* to buy an Android device and waited about a year before I finally gave in and bought an iPad (G1 on sale). When Apple initially released the iPad I was like, cool - now I just wait for the Android knock-off to come along and let me do the things I want with it (at the time I had a desire for USB ports). But I waited and really nothing came along in that time frame that made me want to part with the money for an Android device. So I bought the iPad. I haven't regretted it at all.

I wanted a low fuss device with the apps I wanted or the apps that I didn't know I wanted yet. Now I have a great tablet that does everything I want it to do. I haven't gone looking for an app yet and found that it was only available for "the other platform" and I can use my tablet daily for a large number of tasks. With cloud integration through dropbox or other such service I really don't have a need for USB or at least I haven't regretted not having USB access.

Hardware specs are just one part of the equation and certainly not the whole picture.

Up to this point, I think you provide a very valid point of view. It's not like an iPad is a bad device. A tablet is pretty much a luxury gadget, not something with a lot of productivity usage. That's an area where the "walled garden" approach excels.
But the lack of savvyness is not merely a personal observation. Many companies are debuting new tech over in other markets simply because they are losing the urge to compete when they know a superior feature set just doesn't carry weight with Americans--not compared to the power of branding, at any rate. They're wiling to just forfeit at this point, and that's kind of sad to me, because I think we lose out. And their marketing research in every day experience. I get an iPad on loan from work, and people bother me about it on the subway or in coffee shops. My Toshiba Thrive, OTOH? I have no problem with anyone wanting to touch it.

With this system of wisdom, how do you discern the difference between "slavish devotion" and "actually better, even if you don't agree"?

Good question. The answer is skepticism. You examine their reasons for deeming something "better", and note when they are specious.