This year the tablet industry is going to get interesting, gnarly even, because as the market matures a bunch of very smart power plays will happen. It starts with Google.
We know Google's been working on Android in an attempt to polish a version that really is designed to embrace the larger screens that tablet PCs offer over smartphones. We also know that Android 4.0, the product of this work, is a gentle attempt to claw back some of the problems of platform fragmentation (recent news confirming this). Android 4.0 will be married to some of the newer, more powerful tablet PCs coming from manufacturers like Samsung, and it may be the first serious competitor to Apple's iOS on the iPad--something that's not really existed until now, in terms of smooth user experience, power, and optimized use of screen real estate.
Then we heard rumors that Google was prepping its own tablet PC that would carry the Google brand, perhaps in a similar way to the Nexus line of Android smartphones. The Nexus phones have't exactly stolen the limelight, though, because the Android smartphone market is cluttered and Samsung is doing a good job of competing with Apple (largely by copying it, some may say) and selling devices. It's possible a Google tablet could succeed, because there's no lead competitor to the iPad yet.
A newer rumor still offers hints at a 7-inch device of the "highest quality," according to Google's Eric Schmidt, and it's said to fall below $199 in price. It could devastate the Kindle Fire in two important respects. First, it's slightly cheaper. Second, it's got the words "Don't Panic" inscribed on its cover in large, friendly letters. We kid: Actually while the Kindle Fire has seen Amazon bury all signs of normal Android beneath a completely Amazon-centric UI designed to funnel only Amazon book, music, and video content to the end user, Google's tablet will be quintessentially Android 4.0--and thus full-featured. Remember how consumers shied away from netboo...
[Source: Fast Company]
No comments:
Post a Comment