By Bill Ives
Expert Author
Article Date: 2012-01-18
I recently read the research report, Over 100 Tablets Introduced; Why You Can't Name Any, by Andrew Eisner, Retrevo.com Director of Community and Content. I have written about a number of their prior reports that I always find interesting (see for example, A Study of Social Media Addiction from Retrevo). In this case they looked beyond iPads at whole tablet market. They found that over 100 tablets came out since the iPad, but most people can only name a few of them. Interest in non-iPad tablet devices was almost non-existent until the Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet came out.
Andriod has an opportunity to break into this market but unlike the Android smart phone market where carriers subsidize phones and make money on monthly fees, Android tablet makers can't undersell Apple because the profit they make on their hardware is all they get. Their research found that 79% of people buying tablets would get an Android tablet with similar features to a base model iPad, if it cost less than $250 and 48% would buy an Android tablet with similar features to a base model iPad if it cost less than $300.
People seem to want a smaller tablet. Currently a third of the tablets on the market are 7-inch tablets. However, of people interested in tablets, 44% say they would consider a 7"Android tablet over the 9.7 inch iPad 2 this holiday season and only 12% said they would still buy an iPad. People are also looking for a small price. The main reason for the popularity of the Amazon and Barnes and Noble tablets was their price at $200 for Amazon and $250 for Barnes and Noble's device. I have been thinking about an iPad but am also interested in the new iPhone with the better camera as I use my iPhone camera all the time but am not happy with its quality.
The report concluded that Apple will almost certainly introduce a high resolution Retina display in an iPad 3 this spring to make them more competitive with new tablets. However they wondered if Apple iPads still be priced out of range for many consumers? They also wonder if Apple's strongest competition will continue to come more from book sellers Amazon and Barnes and Noble or will traditional hardware manufacturers be able to find some differentiation to capture a piece of the market?
What are your experiences and predictions?
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