Study considers how Android tablets could affect iPad sales

The tipping point for tablets is $200, and there no reason why they won't get there soon. There is not that much hardware in an iPad, and of course, with Google around, the software is free. The $200 price point is not because they have to be cheap to overcome people's initial "I don't need it" response. My reaction is that I want three (maybe more), and at $500 a pop (WiFi only is fine) that's too much $. I want one to leave in the kitchen, one in my garage/shop, one by my bed stand, maybe one by the TV. I'm not going carry my one tablet around the house. It's like cordless phones, which are now sold in multi-handset packages. You just want to grab one when you need it, to look something up.

I have an Android phone. I'd love an Android-based tablet, but there's no way I'd choose one over an iPad until Android offers:

1) Movie and TV distribution, either something like the iTunes Store or Netflix/Hulu apps. There's nothing right now. Tablets are great for watching video, but what the hell are you going to watch if you can't stream/download/buy anything, other than YouTube content?

2) eBooks. Another perfect application of the tablet, which Android offers very little right now. I've got Aldiko, an e-reader app on my G1, which works extremely well... as a reader. But it's limited to copyright-free content; you won't find a catalog of big-name publishers. Amazon, please get on this.

3) Solid update plans. It's absolutely ridiculous that devices (tablets AND phones) are still being released and shipped with outdated Android OS versions. Okay, the 2.2 SDK was *just* released, but for god's sake we're still seeing phones like the new Garminfone running Android 1.6, with no promises for updates. As I learned with my G1, that's bad news (and not fair to the customers). You can't run the most current apps--hell, even the official Twitter app now requires Android 2.1. I don't know who's to blame most--Google, manufacturers, carriers--but seriously, have a meeting and get that issue fixed. I won't buy an Android tablet--or another Android phone, for that matter--until I can trust that I'll be getting software updates for at least as long as I'm stuck in a contract.

I got into the iPad for business reasons, then learned how it changes the whole computer/internet/apps/portable environment.

We live not at a desk or at the TV, or at the dinner table or in our living room, but all of them, in a seamless, impromptu, spontaneous manner.

The iPad lets the desk part travel to all the other parts. As will any well thought-out ePad.

iPad 1.0 beats the pants off other phones, laptops, notebooks and iPhones for absorbing the available media, books, random questions and leisure browsing.

It doesn't beat the big screen at the desk, but it's not supposed to.

Personally I do not hate android or verizon but I do not think there better than AT&T they seem to always be 1 step behind and trying to be AT&T like a younger sibling or something, the android network is bs, i'd rather have one phone that does everything, where there is no need for more than one device you'll get sick of when it stops working because the new phone is now top priority, folks takemmy advice stick with apple, they already have done this, they know what there doing, and they have too much competition to let things go wrong.

Sent from my iPad

"What have we learned?
First, that Apple has sold a boatload of iPads."

No! We didn't learn that from the parts of the study you referred to in your post. We know that from other credible sources.

"Second, the most serious competition could come from less expensive tablets running Android."

No! If the same question had been asked
and the brand mentioned was the Crappo 7 the answer on price would similar. Some shoppers place price as the most important criteria when deciding on which product to buy.

You and the people who did the study seem to have an amazing grasp of the obvious!

The way I see it, the iPad set the "market standard" of tablet pricing at $499. Competitors see that consumers will purchase one at that price and even higher. With that in mind, i don't see competitors pricing their product at less than $500. They'll add more features, but they know at that price, tablets can sell better than net books and that there IS a market for such a "pricey" device.

Any msrp lower and you have to question the quality of the UI and the device itself. JooJoo anyone?

Interesting that Ron Garriques at D8 revealed that the Dell Streak with only a 5 inch screen was still going to cost at least $500 - the same price as the entry level iPad.

http://d8.allthingsd.com/20100602/dell-demo/

Android tablets may well come in under the iPad price point, they may even flood the market, but just as with netbooks, none of the manufacturers will be making a half-decent profit.

Meanwhile, Apple at worst will still grab a sizeable market share and be making a very healthy margin, thank you.

Today I took a look at the Sprint EVO and it looks pretty nice. I'm going to give it the 30 day money back spin and I think there is a good chance I'm going to dump my iPhone, even though it will cost me $120 to terminate. If I get calls at home I can return the AT&T MicroTel and I'm 30 bucks ahead! I may also sell my 3G iPad -- I also have a WiFi only iPad and with the Sprint hot spot I don't really need the 3G. I really don't use the iPad much. My wife gets a lot of use out of the WiFi only iPad at home. So on the occasions I would need 3G with the iPad I'd be covered. And really, I need a laptop to do anything beyond checking email and surfing the news -- i.e. login to the server with ssh is nearly useless on the iPad.

I'm really fed up with the AT&T coverage problems. I can't get calls at home and I drop calls all the time. If there is more than a second of dead space in a call I'm always asking "still there?"

And then there is the TOS for the iPhone dev. If you want to do anything cool on an iPhone you have to jail break. I want Bluetooth RFCOMM, an open app store, the freedom to choose iBoobs if I want to see some shakin' going on.

The Android phones are all cheaper than the iPhones, but they've got touchscreen problems because they cut corners on materials. No way is a $300 tablet going to challenge the iPad in terms of build quality.

Stuff like iPad is not things people "need".
If you want to sell a tablet, first you need people to "want" to buy it.
remember nobody "needs" a tablet, at least not yet.