Android Tablets Will Soon Overtake The Ipad, Experts Predict

[Lite Beer]

Android tablets will soon overtake the iPad, experts predict

By The Nation.

Berlin - Apple is getting some competition. Big-name manufacturers like Hewlett Packard, LG and Samsung all want to take on the iPad, which currently rules the roost for tablet computers, and they're relying on the Android operating system to help them do so.

Apple might lose its lead status as early as 2012, say some experts. But it's all good news for consumers, who might get to enjoy sinking prices.

"By the end of 2012, Android tablets will rapidly overtake the iPad in market share," forecasts expert Sascha Pallenberg during the Droid condevelopers' conference in Berlin.

Currently, Apple sells nine of every 10 tablet computers purchased, according to market experts. But the "sheer mass" of Android-based tablet computers will guarantee their success says Pallenberg, who blogs about technology from his base in Taiwan.

Ten larger manufacturers, as well as countless smaller ones, currently sell devices of different sizes and categories. In the coming months, companies like RIM, LG, Asus, Acer and Hewlett Packard will all bring iPad competitors to market.

Many of them run with new Android software dubbed Honeycomb, designede specially for tablet computers. Android is open source software developed under the watchful eye of Google.//DPA

-- The Nation 2011-04-03

[Tywais]

Beyond iPad: Top 10 tablets to watch this year

Tablets are hot, thanks to the original iPad and now the iPad 2. Long lines to buy the iPad prove that the tablet concept is here to stay as it is proving popular with consumers. The tablet space is going to get really smoking hot this year with some compelling devices hitting the market that will crank things up a notch. Here are the top 10 tablets to watch this year.

zdnet.com

[Tywais]

Top 5 Tablets to Beat the iPad

Something like 100 new tablets will hit the market this year. Certainly at least ONE of those will draw your glazed eyes away from the iPad, at least for a minute. Brian Cooley runs down a list of the Top 5 tablets that could be better than an iPad as of early 2011.

All of CNET's latest tablet news, reviews and iPad alternatives can be found here.

cnettv.com

[SantiSuk]

But the "sheer mass" of Android-based tablet computers will guarantee their success says Pallenberg, who blogs about technology from his base in Taiwan.

I'm surprised this guy is not Thai (from the land of 'me-too' folly)!!

Copycats eventually blow away the profitability of the market leader, unless the market leader is fleet of foot. Copycats rarely make serious money and eventually fall by the wayside. I know which company my money is staying with - I've only held serious quantities of Apple shares for about three years but its price has tripled in that time. Apple has not yet hit its Microsoft moment IMO; yes, sure it will one day.

[nikster]

Hot air to sell ads, that's all.

Samsung certainly seems to think the iPad can't be beat this year. Acer lost a CEO.

The problem is: Even if everything goes extremely well, and Google makes Android into a really polished tablet OS (of for HP, HP manages to make WebOS into one) - even in that case, they still have to compete with Apple's hardware and execution.

Apple just dropped a cool $3Bn on future contracts for displays and Flash memory, the two most expensive components of a tablet. Bn as in Billion Dollars. Only for securing supply of components. Think about that. The number of companies that can compete with this is very small - Samsung is one of the few thanks to the fact that they make most of this stuff. But the others... it's a rather bleak picture for them. They can choose to either sell their tablets more expensive than Apple - or live with small to non-existent margins on their hardware. And that's only if Google doesn't screw up with Android - I believe in Google software engineering, they're really good people, and they know how to manage the process; but Google hasn't released the Android tablet source code because, as Andy Rubin said, they had to cut corners and basically hack things together to make the deadline.

The technological hurdles the others are up against are massive. Apple is raking it in on the iPhone - huge margins on this device. But on the iPad, their margins are much lower - they want to price it in a way to kill the competition. Good chance that's going to work, too.

[nikster]

Addendum: It's simply a fact that "a flotilla of cheap Android clone tablets" is not going to happen. As in, they won't be able to make them cheaper than the iPad. Price out of the way, Android has to compete with iOS and the established iTunes ecosystem on basis of quality alone. It's an uphill battle.

[lomatopo]

Samsung certainly seems to think the iPad can't be beat this year.

Apple just dropped a cool $3Bn on future contracts for displays

Hmmm, I wonder who makes the displays for the iPad? Not sure what the contracts look like but clearly AAPL is exposed somewhat on supply/suppliers. I bet they are doing all they can to ramp up mainland component second/third-source suppliers.

I admit I haven't studied the WW Tablet market but it does seem like AAPL cannot meet global demand, for myriad reasons, nor does the iPad address any/all applications, so there is is plenty of addressable market for competitors.

[Benjie]

I'd love to have an Android OS on a platform similar to the iPad. I wouldn't pay more for it though.

The iPad is good but I hate iTunes and it's really inconvenient to do what should be really quite simple operations.

[nikster]

Samsung certainly seems to think the iPad can't be beat this year.

Apple just dropped a cool $3Bn on future contracts for displays

Hmmm, I wonder who makes the displays for the iPad? Not sure what the contracts look like but clearly AAPL is exposed somewhat on supply/suppliers. I bet they are doing all they can to ramp up mainland component second/third-source suppliers.

I admit I haven't studied the WW Tablet market but it does seem like AAPL cannot meet global demand, for myriad reasons, nor does the iPad address any/all applications, so there is is plenty of addressable market for competitors.

Well the numbers they're selling, and the speed they're selling them at, it's just hard to keep up with demand. Doesn't really help the competition though as the competition largely relies on the same monster factories in China to produce the hardware. Steve Jobs said of the first iPad his main concern was whether they could make one every 3 seconds.

The $Bns they're investing went to a few different manufacturers - that amount of money allows these manufacturers to basically build new assembly lines and new buildings.

[whybother]

Addendum: It's simply a fact that "a flotilla of cheap Android clone tablets" is not going to happen. As in, they won't be able to make them cheaper than the iPad. Price out of the way, Android has to compete with iOS and the established iTunes ecosystem on basis of quality alone. It's an uphill battle.

Why wouldn't they be able to make them cheaper than the iPad? It seems everyone can make cheaper phones, computers and laptops. Why not tablets too?

[Phatcharanan]

Most of the posts are from Apple 'fan boys'.

Android will rule the waves soon.

[lomatopo]

I'd submit that many can match AAPLs COGS, and perhaps beat them. Samsung provide half the iPad2 screens, and probably some internal components. Not sure about the battery; that's key. Anyone can do FA&T cheaply on the mainland. Where AAPL succeeds is maintaining ASP as they rigidly control pricing and sales channels. And of course they have no direct competition. And consumers don't mind over-paying as they find value in the overall product/solution. So AAPL maintains very high gross margins. Of course as a long-term share-holder I am extremely happy that so many people love AAPL products. As a consumer I do not find the same value level in any AAPL product. I love the openness of my Android phone; I can drag/drop anything onto my phone and play it. I still have an iPod, but absolutely cringe when I have to use iTunes, but only for podcasts.

The WW tablet market seems like it is is huge, and AAPL cannot address the entire market, so here will be plenty for Android tablet manufacturers.

I think we need to see Honeycomb before we write off the next generation of Android tablets.