Rewind, if you will, back to January at CES for a moment. Everyone knew there was an oncoming rush of Android tablets, ready to hit the market at any moment. The floodgates were about to open, and the Motorola XOOM looked to lead the charge. Android had surpassed iOS in phone market share, and its hotly-anticipated tablets would soon get their chance to do the same.
Now fast-forward to today. The iPad is more dominant than ever. The iPad 2, a mostly incremental update over the original, can hardly stay on a store shelf. Meanwhile a growing multitude of Android tablets stacks up, collecting dust and eyeing the bargain bin. What happened?
Apps happened. More specifically, 100,000 iPad apps happened (as reported by the crew at MacStories). Of course Android has apps too, but the amount of tablet-optimized Android apps is still miniscule in comparison. On last check, it was still in the low hundreds.
Android tablet makers made several mistakes, which show a fundamental lack of understanding why people want iPads:
1. An overfocus on specs
It seems that many of them looked at the original iPad’s technical details, improved on all of them a little bit, and said “there – we now have something that will compete with the iPad 2.”
This flawed thinking even seeped into their marketing as well, evidenced in the Verizon commercial where the salesperson says “Your wife will love the Tegra 2 processor – plus it’s 4G-LTE upgrade-able!” Apple, on the other hand, markets their products to human beings. “Tegra 2? and “LTE-upgrade-able” are for geeks, “intuitive,” “inspiring” and “groundbreaking” are for regular people.
Other Business News:
2. If you build it they will come
It’s becoming cliche, but the iPad’s rivals made the mistake of thinking there was a tablet market, when there was really only an iPad market. Yes, Android phones have blossomed in popularity, but that has not, by default, translated into tablet sales. It turns out that most of the people who really love their EVO or Droid 2 just aren’t that interested in a XOOM or Galaxy Tab right now.
3. Rushing incomplete products to the market.
The XOOM launched without working LTE or an SD Card (months later, neither has an official fix yet). Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ was released in what was essentially a beta state. It may have been ready for Android forum members to play with, but it was not ready for your average customer. Sadly XOOM-user sees her browser crash twice a day, and she’s marching into Best Buy to get her money back. It was all rushed to market to compete with the iPad 2, and the manufacturers only succeeded at shooting themselves in the foot. All the reviews noted the buggy, beta nature, and customers paid attention.
CloudTags: How, Android Tablets, complete, iPad, 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet PC, Philips LCD Monitor
Now fast-forward to today. The iPad is more dominant than ever. The iPad 2, a mostly incremental update over the original, can hardly stay on a store shelf. Meanwhile a growing multitude of Android tablets stacks up, collecting dust and eyeing the bargain bin. What happened?
Apps happened. More specifically, 100,000 iPad apps happened (as reported by the crew at MacStories). Of course Android has apps too, but the amount of tablet-optimized Android apps is still miniscule in comparison. On last check, it was still in the low hundreds.
Android tablet makers made several mistakes, which show a fundamental lack of understanding why people want iPads:
1. An overfocus on specs
It seems that many of them looked at the original iPad’s technical details, improved on all of them a little bit, and said “there – we now have something that will compete with the iPad 2.”
This flawed thinking even seeped into their marketing as well, evidenced in the Verizon commercial where the salesperson says “Your wife will love the Tegra 2 processor – plus it’s 4G-LTE upgrade-able!” Apple, on the other hand, markets their products to human beings. “Tegra 2? and “LTE-upgrade-able” are for geeks, “intuitive,” “inspiring” and “groundbreaking” are for regular people.
Other Business News:
2. If you build it they will come
It’s becoming cliche, but the iPad’s rivals made the mistake of thinking there was a tablet market, when there was really only an iPad market. Yes, Android phones have blossomed in popularity, but that has not, by default, translated into tablet sales. It turns out that most of the people who really love their EVO or Droid 2 just aren’t that interested in a XOOM or Galaxy Tab right now.
3. Rushing incomplete products to the market.
The XOOM launched without working LTE or an SD Card (months later, neither has an official fix yet). Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ was released in what was essentially a beta state. It may have been ready for Android forum members to play with, but it was not ready for your average customer. Sadly XOOM-user sees her browser crash twice a day, and she’s marching into Best Buy to get her money back. It was all rushed to market to compete with the iPad 2, and the manufacturers only succeeded at shooting themselves in the foot. All the reviews noted the buggy, beta nature, and customers paid attention.
CloudTags: How, Android Tablets, complete, iPad, 7 inch Touch Screen Tablet PC, Philips LCD Monitor
没有评论:
发表评论