While the iPad continue to be a big success , the tablet market offers a harsh climate to trafficker other than Apple — and pricing strategies may be an important factor in their difficulty .
Last hebdomad Motorola said it sold only 100,000 Xooms during the third quarter , while Apple sold over 11 million iPads in the same period . Meanwhile , Research In Motion sell just 200,000 of its critically slam dance PlayBook tablet between June and August .
So far , Samsung has been the most successful challenger , selling about 1.6 million Galaxy tablet during the third stern , according to information from market research company Canalys .
Amazon hopes to make a splash in the tablet world with the Kindle Fire.
Amazon hop-skip to make a splash in the tablet domain with the Kindle Fire .
promise to outsell all other contender — and maybe prove the decimal point that price is critical to vie with Apple — is Amazon , which has seen such pre - order requirement for its approaching Kindle Fire that it decided to storm up yield . The company is “ increasing capability and building millions more than we ’d already plan , ” CEO Jeff Bezos said last week .
What sets the Kindle Fire aside from competing products is its $ 199 monetary value tag , mix with access to flick , TV appearance , songs , cartridge and books . Today , products like the Xoom and Samsung ’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 originally cost more than double as much as the Kindle Fire , and about the same as the iPad .
TouchPad sales only took off when HP slashed prices on the discontinued tablet.
“ tab at high prices , meaning close to that of the iPad , are simply not going to sell meaningful mass for the foreseeable future , ” said Richard Windsor , world technology marketing psychoanalyst at Nomura International .
Neil Mawston , music director at market enquiry troupe Strategy Analytics , agree : “ Pricing is decisive for tablet . Apple can charge a premium , but very few others can , ” he said .
Amazon slashing its monetary value to the bare minimum has labour growth , whereas Motorola , HTC and others have examine to maximise pricing and that has backfired , consort to Mawston .
TouchPad sales only took off when HP slashed terms on the discontinued tablet .
Also , Hewlett Packard ’s fire sales event of the TouchPad , slashing prices from $ 499 to $ 99 , following its decision to withdraw webOS hardware , demonstrate that pricing is a critical element in determining success , according to Canalys . The company ended up shipping 560,000 units , Canalys said .
But pricing is n’t the only cistron . The weak user user interface on Android Honeycomb , the OS that is used on current Android tablets , has n’t facilitate , according to Roberta Cozza , principal analyst at Gartner .
Amazon has sum its own user interface to Android .
Also , the pad of paper is mostly about medium consumption , so you need content and applications programme to attract users , Cozza tell .
“ The user experience on Android simply is n’t as good as it is on the iPad , and you do n’t have all of the diligence and access to the content Apple is offering , ” said Windsor .
The way mass view the tablet securities industry also puts many vendor at a disadvantage , according to a study of 4,500 pad of paper owners in Europe done by market research company CCS Insight .
Almost one-half see the tab as a novel intersection category , which mean that brand is very important , and Apple is now take care as the safe brand , accord to CCS Insight mobile psychoanalyst Martin Garner . Also , almost one third see the tablet as part of their computer science set up , and that is forged news show for phone vendors like HTC and RIM , Garner say .
To deform thing around , the Android camp has a great deal of work to do .
“ It needs pretty ironware designs ; more developers to spring up tablet optimize program program , services and internet site ; and Google to arise a more lozenge optimise web browser and operating system , which it has done with Android 4.0 , ” tell Mawston .
Google is take steps to move in the right direction , but perhaps not move as fast as it would care , according to Mawston .
RIM also confront an acclivitous engagement .
“ The first thing it need is more attractive computer hardware , ” say Mawston .
Besides that it also needs more attractive pricing , in force messaging , an improved program store and more of a focussing on the consumer , he said .
Despite current challenges most vendors are likely to stick it out . The expected sales book are too big for them to just discombobulate in the towel . For example , on Thursday , Motorola launched the Xoom 2 and Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition . In October , the company also launched the Xoom Family Edition , which cost available for $ 379 .
If vendors get tablet right , the category is still expect to play a big role in the future of computation , with end users execute a growing number of tasks on their pill , concord to Garner . He expect more “ proper competitors ” to the iPad to get in next year .
Garner is n’t alone in reckon that product launch next year will help oneself redraw the pad of paper function .
“ In 2012 , we can look that show vendors will plunge modest cost tablets , as well . If there is a meaning price break to the iPad , then maybe there will be some users that just require a good browsing experience . But I still think vendors will need strong cognitive content and services , ” said Cozza .
Samsung ’s product have been doing better than other Android - free-base pad , but nowhere near as well as its smartphones . However , as the companionship continues to ameliorate its products , volume will also develop , Mawston said .
Next class will also see the launch of Windows 8 , which will be used on both PC and tablets , and deform the pad market place a three - horse slipstream between Apple , Google and Microsoft , and supporters of the latter two , according to Mawston .
