Instapaper creator Marco Arment has really rattle a routine of Cage in the few days since he write a piece entitle “ The Android tablet trouble , nicely summarized by one review ’s close . ” And that ’s an appropriate metaphor , as these return - logical argument belong in cages . The Macalope ’s not certain what siren ’s Song dynasty this piece send out out , but he ’s wondering if we could somehow harness it to lure these pundits into a gondola to send them off to live on a farm in the country somewhere without Internet access where he ’s sure they ’d be much happy . Or , at least we ’d be a lot happier , which is really more to the breaker point .
The thrust of Arment ’s tilt was that , while good hardware is gracious , it ’s not enough to make people pass out and purchase iPad competitors . People buy iPads because of the ecosystem and , so far , Android has n’t been able to work up the sort of compelling software ecosystem the iPad has . scarce controversial , right ?
Oy .
Even the Macalope ’s ancient nemesis , George Ou , feltcompelled to reply . Some of you younger readers may not remember George Ou . Count your boon . George used to blog over at ZDNet before he left to go workplace fora seriesof think - tank , possibly as a public service so fewer multitude would have to read his work .
The thing that stuck out about his review of a reappraisal is that it spends so much meter frothing at the mouth because someone said something nice about a competing Apple product that ’s truthful .
George is a very serious soul who would neverfrothat themouth .
When you get to the bottom line , Mr. Arment ’s finale like so many pundits is that the pad of paper wars are over and Apple owns the market due to its dominance in app backing .
Of naturally , Marco never tell the pill war were over . What he said was that pill vendors without yield - themed Son are break down to have to come up with a more compelling oblation if they want to convert people to buy their product instead of an iPad .
So far , vie tablets havebeen an utter failure with the exception of the Galaxy Tab , but George knows how to situate that : cost .
That place Windows 8 tablets in the $ 350 to $ 500 monetary value range which is very compelling to the meagerly PC shopper who are n’t go to grease one’s palms Apple .
Like … George Ou .
We ’ve talked about this before . Yes , there ’s probably a set of consumer who are priced out of the pad of paper market decently now . Whoever can get prices down low enough will capture them .
Back over at George ’s old stomping grounds ( he did alotof stomp over there ) Adrian Kingsley - Hughes , while not addressing Arment ’s musical composition , makes the same cost argumentby way of agree withRobert Scoble .
Well , pardon the Macalope for tell so , guy , but dur - hey . This is n’t startling . This is the primary reason Android smartphones have a higher grocery share than the iPhone . Despite Ou ’s rivalry , no “ Apple blogger , ” Arment include , is saying otherwise . In fact , this isexactlywhat the horny one said back in January .
The iPad 2 will be sexy and slender and have two photographic camera . OK , that ’s not much of a prediction , but Android and Windows - found tablets will continue to hang in the iPad ’s apparition until they ’re capable to undercut it on price .
But George sleep with his straw humans , so what are you going to do ?
Time for Apple to give up
The Macalope ’s not certain what it is that Joe Wilcox loves . Making argument that fly in the aspect of reality ? That ’s the best the Macalope can get out ofhis response to Arment(tip o ’ the antler toLessien ) . Armentcan’t envision it out , either .
His deed does n’t even make sensation : “ Apple can not win the tablet wars ” . Joe , it ’s winning it right now . Quite handily . There ’s this technology - punditry imperative to have one ultimate succeeder in every area as if time hold on once someone gains decisive market place contribution , but even the desktop operating scheme wars are n’t completely over . If anything , Apple ’s changed the rules of the war .
Sorry , Joe . Go forward . You were about to make no sense .
Arment ’s reasoning is fatally flawed , making applications more important than they really are for a mobile platform to succeed . I wo n’t bother with a point - by - peak but get to the one that count most : iPad has no killer whale app(s ) . There is no software program diligence that people are pin for that cause Apple ’s tablet must - have over any other .
Then why is Apple kvetch every other tablet maker ’s butt up and down the street , Joe ? No , there ’s nooneapplication multitude need . There are thousands of them people need individually and , where they ’re also on Android , they’rejust better on iOS .
Wilcox repeatedly says developers will inevitably be drawn to train for Android tablets because they want to “ make money ” . But we ’ve cross this territory , Joe . developer , by and large , prefer iOSbecausethey make more money develop for it . iPhone and iPad user just buy more apps .
Again , there ’s only one way these pad competitors are going to make their products more compelling than the iPad and that ’s by undercut Apple on price . bask your low-toned - margin business , Android and Windows 8 OEMs ! You merit every half - penny of it .
