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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alan Shutko" data-source="post: 5851206" data-attributes="member: 23694">I see <a href="http://www.androidauthority.com/ipad-android-market-share-report-63303/" target="_blank">this report</a>, but I note that it talks about shipments, not sales. As we saw with the HP Touchpad and the RIM Playbook, it's really easy to shove tons of units in the retail channel without having them actually be sold.  From my perspective, here's what Android manufacturer's need to work on to be really competitive with the iPad:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Provide software updates rapidly for several years.  The <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2397729,00.asp" target="_blank">Google Update Alliance</a> really ruined my faith in vendors since it's already been forgotten by almost every Android vendor who signed on.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Work on getting more Android apps to support tablets natively. Right now, many apps just work in "really big smartphone mode" and don't intelligently reformat for tablets. This is pretty easy to fix, and mfrs could probably just throw free tablets at a few influential developers to help ease the transition.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Work on cost by minimizing device count and working on as much economy of scale as possible.  Right now, it's very difficult to compete with the iPad on price, since Apple has extremely good deals with component vendors.  Helps to sell in insane volume, and it helps to have a huge amount of cash to lock in great prices on components early.  As long as Android mfrs are working on zillions of different form factors and spec lineups, it will be hard to get the volume deals needed to compete with Apple on price.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Differentiate! Focus on the things that the iPad does not do well.  If the review ends up "This costs as much as an iPad, and does the same stuff as an iPad, but isn't as smooth, or as intuitive, or have the same app catalog" then only people already invested in an Android ecosystem will buy your tablet.  Find ways to make your tablet do things the iPad can't.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Work for the enterprise market.  It's crazy to say this since Apple usually raises a finger at the enterprise, but I've heard a lot of security folks in my company who are more comfortable with the mobile device management in iOS than they are in Android.  </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Make fewer models, but make them more significant. The gap in time between the Transformer Prime (Dec 2011) and the Transformer Prime Infinity (April 2012) is fine for the computer commodity market, but no good for the consumer electronics market.  Why buy now when in four months you'll have something even better to look at?  Oh wait, in four months, you know something ELSE will show up!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Provide ecosystem compatibility over the long term.  Apple has done an insanely good job at this and nobody else has really tried.  I can use accessories from iPods six years ago and they work just great with the newest iPhone. The dock connector is much reviled, but it has stayed mostly consistent (with the exception of firewire charging removed from the iPhone 3g in 2008) for years. What that means is that it makes sense for speaker makers to have dock connectors. Car head units can control the iPhone.  I've actually had AirPlay support for four or five years, because the hardware I bought which was compatible with iTunes AirTunes works with the newer devices. What this means is I can gradually accumulate stuff that works together, and when I look at a new tablet or phone, I'm naturally biased to stuff that works in the same ecosystem.  Too many android devices need a new car charger, and new other accessories, and all that newness opens me up to looking at other devices.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Tell carriers to go ******** themselves.  The single best innovation that Apple did was that they told the carriers that the users come first, and that they WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED to mess with the experience.  </li> </ol>Whenever I hear that "Android is great, you just need Cyanogenmod" I know that it's lost a bunch of customers who really don't want to have to screw with their ROMs to have a good experience.As an inveterate Apple fanboy, I have to say I completely agree with you.</blockquote>

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