I knew, of course, that when I picked up a Xoom something else would get announced shortly after. Naturally, Apple did not disappoint here. I'd considered getting an I pad last year but wanted to see what 2011 might bring. March is barely a whisper of Spring and the tablet wars are truly underway.
The have been two interesting trends since Apple's announcement. One is the coverage of what the iPad 2 didn't bring to the table: no Retina, no Thunderbolt, no USB, no SD slot, no 4G. Hardware-wise, the new iPad's real trick is to maintain a bit of parity with the Xoom while cutting into the price point. And of course, now you can get the still quite attractive original I pad for even cheaper.
But still, I don't think I've seen quite so many articles following in the heels of an Apple announcement which points to all the things Apple didn't do, instead of what it did. Sure, the magnetic cover is slick ... but give me the pixel density of Retina, or at least the resolution of the Xoom instead.
The other trend is the rather palatable, though predictable, word from the Apple camp of ... so what? It's still going to be the hottest thing since sliced bread and everyone will want one. And, they're right - Apple me brilliant in its conservatism here, leveraging their excellent hardware profit margins and superior software suite to push their platform.
Did I say superior software suite? I did, but before the Android mob shows up on my doorstep - let me just say I love my Xoom and have zero regrets in purchasing it. My iPhone is perfectly sufficient for my iOS needs, and I've had a blast with the Xoom so far. But that's not to say Google can simply dismiss the iTunes factor, or that Motorola can really compare the current stock of iPad apps with a handful of apps geared for the Xoom.
But like I said in the last post: we don't have a mobile landscape, we have a tsunami. Android tablets will sell and as that market grows larger it will attract more developers. Google, or Amazon, or someone will realize the next app gold rush is starting. We may be living in Apple's Post-PC world, but it's a world whose rules are becoming more strongly defined by software instead of hardware ... and Android as a lot of resources for delivering software.
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6 comments:
Yeah I'm a bit torn at the moment. I'm contemplating picking up a tablet, but really none of them are exactly what I want. The fundamental problem is that they are all just a little bigger than I want. I am going to give the iPad 2 a spin to see if it's lighter weight will work for me.
My ideal though would be a tablet in the 7" range with a retina display. That would make it a little more compact, lighter, and have resolution sufficient for making it an effective e-book reader.
I see people using the iPad and it always comes off as slightly too big to me. I think a lot of it probably has to do with the very wide bezel around the edges of the display. It feels like wasted space (though I've no doubt there are very practical technical reasons why they did it that way.
In that case I'd wait to see what the next revision of the Android tabs will be like. I think Samsung is updating the 7" tab, and their might be a smaller version of the Xoom as well.
Though that said, not sure we'll screens larger than the iPhone4's with Retina's pixel density this year.
Actually from what I saw it looks like the next Galaxy Tab is going to be a 10" tablet and run Honeycomb. So... it looks like whatever I may think about a 7" form factor, nobody else agrees :)
So looking all the more likely that I'll just go with an iPad 2. Similar form factor to the Xoom but lighter, and the heft of the iPad is what turned me off to it.
Oh and then there's this:
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/04/samsung-rethinking-galaxy-tab-10-1-after-ipad-2-unveiling/
Lee Don-joo, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile division, said that Apple has presented new challenges for the South Korean company with a thinner mobile gadget that is priced the same as its predecessor.
'We will have to improve the parts that are inadequate,' Lee told Yonhap News Agency. 'Apple made it very thin.'
Oh and then there's this:
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/04/samsung-rethinking-galaxy-tab-10-1-after-ipad-2-unveiling/
Lee Don-joo, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile division, said that Apple has presented new challenges for the South Korean company with a thinner mobile gadget that is priced the same as its predecessor.
'We will have to improve the parts that are inadequate,' Lee told Yonhap News Agency. 'Apple made it very thin.'
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