- HP & RIM Coming Up Next
Apple’s iPad 2 seems to have sucked all the oxygen out of the tablet market. Sales of Motorola’s Xoom tablet, launched in February, have been underwhelming, according to eWeek. Jefferies and Co analyst Peter Misek told the publication that Motorola may have to reduce production of the Xoom if it hasn’t already done so.
”We believe the device has been a bit buggy and did not meet the magic price point of $500,” Misek is quoted as saying. ”We believe management knows this and is hurrying development and production of lower cost tablets. Importantly we believe management will likely have to make the painful decision to accept little to no margin initially in order to match iPad 2’s wholesale pricing.”
Others have pointed out that the Xoom is hampered by bugs, freezes, poor battery life and a high price of $800.
Apple chief Steve Jobs has said that the competitive tablets coming to market show what a good deal the iPad is. Apple’s insistence on trouble-free operation, speed, lightness and long battery life have made it hard for others to compete, especially those based on Google’s Android.
Yet to be heard from are the HP’s WebOS-based TouchPad and RIM’s QNX-based PlayBook. Both companies have operating systems that they own and control.
HP CEO Leo Apotheker has promised to spread the popularity of WebOS by putting it on almost all the hardware HP makes, from PCs to printers. He’s also said HP will push cloud computing, which will create demand for tablets and cloud computers. HP has a major asset that Apple doesn’t — a gigantic sales force that is in the headquarters of the corporates every day. Apple is using its retail stores to sell to businesses.
RIM’s PlayBook was very impressive during controlled demonstrations at CES. RIM has hinted that Android apps can be converted to run on PlayBooks. RIM also has strong ties to the corporates with its BlackBerry phones and e-mail service.
Samsung could be another company that moves away from Android. It has an OS called ”bada” that it’s using on smartphones and smart TVs. Last October the VP of Samsung’s visual display division, Kyungsik Kevin Lee, said, ”We have a plan to have a single platform for Samsung TV and phones.” Justin Hong, bada platform chief at Samsung, said last year that the company is considering the possibility of putting bada on other devices. Following Nokia’s de-emphasis of Symbian and its deal with Microsoft for Windows Phone 7, Samsung started appealing to Symbian developers to work on bada instead.
According to Google, the Honeycomb version of Android that the Motorola Xoom uses was specifically intended for tablets. If there are problems, then Google has enough backers and partners who would collectively seem to be able to clean up whatever shortcomings Android has on tablets. Or, Apple will run the table.
Apple has made it so difficult for other tablet makers with a quality product at an attractive price plus a global retail network of stores and cellcos.
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