Can Amazon, Asus and Samsung compete with Apple in the tablet market?

Apple is still giving huge competition to its rival companies especially in terms of its tablet shipments. The company still has its number one niche in its tablet shipment leaving behind Amazon, BN and Asus. According to NPD’s DisplaySearch wing:“Apple is still sitting at the top of the mountain and accounts for 59.1% of its tablet shipped in Q4 in 2011 while Amazon having second place accounting for 16.7% of its tablet shipments.”

By reading at this research analysis, it will not come out as a surprise for many people. The reason is that a leading company like Apple has touched millions and billions of people’s hearts by manufacturing the most attention grabbing devices for them. Due to high demand for its devices, Apple is still shipping its products to number of markets in the world and now has become a leader in shipping its gadgets especially in terms of its tablets.

NPD DisplaySearch also brings out this interesting point that Amazon’s Kindle Fire and BN’s Nook Tablet being only available in United States have earned third and fourth place, but that was just according to NPD’s rankings. Samsung and Asus also hit solid results but in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) markets. But, no matter what these search polls say, Apple has the number one spot in shipping the most number of tablets in the world. It seems now a long time since we will be able to see a sold competitor for Apple. The company is shipping, earning and generating huge revenues for its company. With the launch of Apple’s iPad 3 in March, it wouldn’t be able to see its successor any time sooner now. It’s definitely going to be one hell of a fight but the current winner is Apple. Let’s see if in future, the number one spot will be taken by any other company or not?

Motorola was unable to ship more than 1 million tablets in 2011

Motorola shipped just 1 million tablets in 2011, all quarters combined. Motorola also reports heavy losses, even at CES Motorola had nothing new to show. It really is pathetic; the third largest android OEM is showing such outcomes. Droid XYBOARD tablets on Verizon total rounded up for 1 million tablets which were shipped.

If we start comparing Motorola with other companies who launched their tablets, Motorola is at misery. Apple sold 15 million iPads, which is astonishing because that only counts for the last quarter of 2011.  Estimates put the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet at between 1 and 3 million units each, and they only went on sale in November. A rough estimate suggests that a total of 26-30 million android products were sold, which makes Motorola look even more miserable for contributing a total of 3 percent to the market. It is alarming that Motorola was the OEM producer for the original Honeycomb OS hardware.

It was rumored that Motorola was to become the unofficial arm for the Google manufacturing in 2012. Does Motorola deserve such kindness from Google or another point to ponder; can Motorola take the responsibility.
Later, a Wi-Fi version of the XYBOARD was launched in Europe; it did really create a buzz but was just welcomed enough. Though the hardware is just over o.k. but not that spectacular which can outstand, still Motorola priced it a bit high. Other competitors like Samsung, Lenovo, ACER and ASUS are getting ready to hit the market with promising products with amazing hardware and low prices.

Where does all this mess leave Motorola? Motorola should really start thinking about greater products and lowered prices.  Take a cue from the Asus MeMO 370T, it was the breakthrough product at CES.
Only one thing can get Motorola the attention ‘low priced specs’. Samsung is the best at this.

Due to the massive consumption in Tablets, their ownership has already doubled in the beginning of New Year 2012

In a country like America, tablet ownership has jumped from about 1 out of every 10 Americans to approximately 19 percent. This scenario is also current in other countries too. The immense consumption in tablets started in the middle of December when people gave huge number of gifts based on Androids to their loved ones, thus the massive increase in tablet ownership can likely be attributed to the holiday shopping season especially during this Christmas.

While Apple’s iPad definitely helped boost that percentage, less expensive tablets like Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble’s Nook Tablet were also partial contributors. Analysts have estimated that Apple sold approximately 13 million iPads over the holiday season while Amazon sold between four to five million Kindle Fire tablets. In addition to tablet ownership increasing rapidly, e-book reader ownership also spiked from 18 percent in December 2011 to 29 percent in January 2012.

According to a recent study conducted by PBS Learning Media:

“Over four out of five teachers believe that tablets enrich the classroom experience, yet only 22 percent of teachers reported that they have the right kind of technology in the classroom. The study also found that teachers working in affluent school districts are twice as likely to have access to tablets like the iPad.”

With the beginning of this new year, the tablet ownership has already doubled, the ownership is likely to be increased more because of many companies plan to make tablets more available and affordably for the consumers.

Government of India is all set to launch Aakash-II in April after Datawind’s Aaakash Tablet

Datawind, a Canadian company working in India manufactured a very low cost tablet by the name of Aakash. The company designed the tablet to benefit the students of India by providing those tablets on low prices that could be easily available to the students. Datawind also engaged Indian Central Government, state government, NGOs, municipalities etc to promote the tablet in the education sector.

However, the tablet was unsuccessful to make its mark among the students of India. There were also amid complaints with regard to the quality of the low-cost ‘Aakash‘ tablet PC, the government said it is hopeful of bringing out an upgraded version of the device, ‘Aakash-II‘, by April this year. Human Resource Development Ministry Kapil Sibal was very hopeful that the upgraded version of Aakash will be successful and says that:

“In order to cater to the huge demand, we need several manufacturers to manufacture Aakash. We are enhancing the specifications on the basis of feedback we have received from the first version of Aakash. So we want to make sure that the upgraded product caters to the need of the customers. We have involved ITI in order to upgrade it. We will be able to bring in Aakash II by April.”

Many differences occurred between Aakash creator Datawind and Ministry of Human Resource Development when (MHRD) suggested an upgraded version of Tablet Aakash but Sibal came with a very friendly gesture by saying that:

“We believe in resolving issues rather than highlighting them.”

MHRD and the Datawind both are working for a long-term and full supply of 1 lakh units of the Aakash tablet version II to the students of India. Sibal also highlights that:

“As of now Datawind has delivered around 30,000 tablets and the rest 70,000 will also have the upgraded version of Aakash-II to be provided to the students.”

At least Government of India is not sitting idle but taking initiative to provide advanced and upgraded version of Tablet Aakash after the amid complaints related to its first version to benefit its Students for their educational purposes.

Amazingly, the sales figure reached to 14 lakh within two weeks, after the world’s cheapest tablet Aakash was put on sale online in India

Per unit price of this tablet is Rupees 2,500. In order to cater with this high and unexpected demand, Datawind, a UK-based manufacturing company, has decided to commence three new factories in India to assemble the tablets. The factories are going to be established in the first half of this New Year in Noida, Cochin and Hyderabad. Currently it has just one factory which manufactures tablets’ LCD panel in Hyderabad.

“We never expected such a high response from both corporate and individual buyers. We plan to supply 70,000-75,000 units per day once the factories are in place by April,” said Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, and Datawind told ET from Panama. “Around two weeks ago, we received a call from India’s computer emergency response team that our website was probably suffering from a large cyber-attack. We had to inform them we had just opened sale through our website,” Tuli further stated.

Datawind is already done with the first lot of its tablets, which it puts online for sale in collaboration with the Ncarry.com, an e-commerce provider. A spokesman of Ncarry.com claimed that their website is serving all across the India with a guaranteed delivery of tablet in five to seven days.

Aakash tablet had surpassed the tablet market of India, with a pre-sales booking of around 400,000 units in October. Despite of having minor flaws like slow processor and resistive touch, Aakash was able to get 1 lakh orders in just one day after its launch online. On the other hand, Apple retailed around 1 to 3 million iPads in juts 20 and 80 days respectively after its launch in 2010. The cheapest Apple’s iPad is now offered at Rupees 29,500 and is twelve time expensive than Aakash.

Aakash’s manufacturer Datawind is garroted with supply restraints, as compared to Apple which accomplished smooth deliveries of the iPad. “We are not accepting cash for bookings currently, as we want to sort out supply issues,” Tuli said.

Now Datawind is planning to launch its next version of Aakash on sale online by mid-January. It is known as Ubislate 7 and is offered at 2,999 rupees. This advanced version will have the internet facility by 2G or GPRS connection due to the provision of SIM card insertion slot. In the current version, a user can even access internet through Wi-Fi connection. Moreover, the newer version is going to be faster than the previous one due to having a 700 Mhz processor.

The government has allowed Datawind to offer its next lot of ninety thousand tablets, even though test specifications from the IIT Rajasthan is yet to be provided for the upcoming advanced version. They want to procure the supply for students. The delay at government’s end may results Aakash in the hand of commercial buyers instead of students for whom this low-end tablet was manufactured in the first place.

Asustek may reveal a new 7 inch Android tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show, a tech site reported, in the United States next week

Italian tech news site Notebook Italia, leaked information about Asustek (Taiwanese computer maker) upcoming 7 inch tablet at $299 dubbed the Eee Pad Transformer Prime 7. The site further hinted that this 7 inch tablet can also use a keyboard like its 10 inch ally Transformer Prime although it was further said that its keyboard may be smaller and likely less comfortable than Transformer Prime’s.

An online source also hinted that The International Consumer Electronics Show is looking forward to this prestigious tablet of Asustek to be displayed in their show in the United State next week.

The International Consumer Electronics show is seeking to give immense support to Asustek for enabling CE innovations to grow more.

Asus is owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which represents more than 2,000 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of consumer electronics products.

A website CNET also reported this upcoming tablet as that the Asus’ tablet will likely to have a 7-inch 1,280×800-pixel capacitive screen and likely come with Android Honeycomb (Google’s first-generation tablet operating system of virtualization). This tablet is also likely to have 16 to 64 GB of internal storage, a Qualcomm 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and would come with both Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.

It is yet another huge success for Asus for launching this prestigious advanced 7 inch tablet after Transformer Prime. It won’t be too long when Asustek will become one of the leading companies in making advanced honeycomb tablets. It is already working so hard to make its name in one of the leading companies for providing advanced virtualization in android devices.

Intel’s Clover Trail silicon is going to be a massive push by chipmaker of Windows 8 tablets!

It is an Atom chip panned for the 2^nd half of this New Year, almost the same time frame of Windows 8 launch, a source linked with Intel’s plans told CNET. Clover Trail, follow on to the Medfield, is aimed mainly at the smartphones. Medfield chip with the single core design will be used for some tablets undoubtedly, but Clover Trail with its high quality dual-core version will make it an attractive offer for tablet makers.

Moreover, it is said that Intel is likely to show off its Clover Trail based prototype tablets privately or publicly. These tablets are going to run on Windows 8 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) later this month. It has somehow followed the comments made by Intel’s Mike Miller who regarded Clover Trail as “a vehicle for Windows 8 tablets and hybrids.” Moreover, it is predicted that Lenovo and Acer are going to bring forward their Clover Trail tablets working on Windows 8 in the 3^rd quarter of 2012.

In the previous year at Windows Build Conference Samsung astounded its attendees by bringing forward a tablet based on Windows 8 with an Intel processor. And as expected, it was not from ARM as expected, although it is known to be the silicon of choice when it comes to Android tablets.

Normally, ARM processors are more power effective than Intel processors, and that’s the reason they are extensively used in smartphones and tablets. But presently Intel is working hard to fulfill the power efficiency gap with Clover Trail, Medfield and Silvermount.

Moreover, a conventional Intel chip, Haswell, which would target hybrids, tablets and ultrabooks, is also due in the next year that is 2013. Another processor targeted specifically at mainstream laptops and ultrabooks, Ivy bridge processor, is also likely to make an advent at CES. All in all, Windows 8 which is a more tablet friendly as compared to Windows 7 will operate on both ARM and Intel/AMD chips.

Sony has decided to cut short its Tablet S price in order to boost sales and grab more consumers

Sony has cut short its S series tablet price up to 100 USD . It shows that price-reducing trend is emerging in non-Apple products. The 16G Tablet S is now available to consumers at just 400 USD, the price of its 32G model is reduced from 600 to 500 dollars.

Its has a 9.4 inches 1280×800 specs display, front and back cameras, 16GB memory, Android Honeycomb and battery life up to 8 hours. Sony is not the first company to reduce its devices’ prices; another quite recent example of tablet price deflation is RIM’s Blackberry Playbook. This Playbook has been retailed at 300 USD less than its official price but directly proportional to week.

At Best Buy, Consumer 10-inches Android tablets like 16GB Acer Lconia and 16GB Lenovo IdeaPad K1Tablet are now priced at 359.99 and 310.99 USD respectively. The price is considered to be comparatively lower than get-go. The 16GB Toshiba Thrive and Asus Eee Transformer are both offered at 400 USD.  Is this cost low enough to generate effective and significant consumer demand for a 10 inch class tablet? Only a tablet retailer can tell you accurately about it!

Not even the Barnes and Noble and Amazon are making it easier by launching their 7 inch tablets at and 249 and 199 USD respectively. In particular, The Kindle Fire is witnessing a strong demand due to the quality and distinct features it offer.

Apple, so far, is pretty much invulnerable to the price burden impacting mortal tablet makers. Price fluctuating from $499 to $829, Apple still retails over 10 million tablets per quarter. Though Verizon speciously didn’t get hold on that memo. The carrier just announced that the Motorola XyBoardcost between $529.99 and $729.99 with a 2 year contract and as much as $899.99 without a contract.

We compare Asustek Computer’s Eee Pad Transformer Prime and the Droid Xyboard 10.1 from Motorola Mobility Holdings to find a winner

Two more tablets are beginning to make their mark in markets and gaining attention of millions of users. They are known as Asustek Computer’s Eee Pad Transformer Prime and the Droid Xyboard 10.1 from Motorola Mobility Holdings and Verizon Wireless. Every Android Tablet that comes in the market is said to give iPad a back seat but, it will not be wrong to say that Google provides a higher quality of iPad apps than any other Android Tablet that are even more than 140,000.

Again coming back to the new tablets of Asustek and Motorola, the Transformer Prime of Asustek has a very beautiful frame weighing only 1.3 pounds making it hugely lighter than the iPad 2. For charging the Transformer Prime, it has a very cool spun finish on its metallic back also consisting of multipin cable and its battery is long lasting as well, the Prime also offers an option of two lower-power modes to extend battery life.  Once you charge the Prime you can use it for than seven hours to search the web, watch movie and check your emails etc.  The Prime has a very powerful microprocessor and has stunning graphics. One of the major advantages of the Prime can be that you can even connect $150 metallic keyboard with it. The keyboard has an SD expansion card slot, a USB port and its own six hours battery system. With keyboard attaching with the Prime, you can use this device for 18 hours without charging. The Prime has two WI-FI memory systems, one having 32GB of memory storage and the other having 64GB, both of them are $100 cheaper than the iPads. They run Google’s first-generation tablet operating system known as Honeycomb.

When talking about the easiest way to connect to the Internet Droid Xyboard 10.1 also known as Xoom 2 is most suitable. It has a download speed of 10 to 20 megabits per second, and runs on Verizon’s LTE 4G networks, the fastest wireless data network. After charging you can use Xoom 2 for fastest way to use the Internet like surfing the Web, downloading apps or streaming movies and videos etc. it is the fastest way to broadband connection. Its price is about 1.3 pounds. It has a water repellent coating on its touch screen to avoid spilling accidents.

But there are some aspects of Xyboard that are less satisfying than the Prime. Although Xoom 2 has a Honeycomb operating system but it is still disorienting than the Prime when it comes to things like scrolling through apps and has a less powerful dual core processor. The prices of Xyboard start at $530 for a 16-GB version and $730 for 64 GB. But, it also happens that Verizon of Xyboard makes its buyers to sign a two year contract, in that case Xyboard prices exceed to $700 for even a least expensive model. Xyboard is still the fastest and the most powerful tablet especially when it comes to Internet surfing. But, the Prime also has certain advantages and disadvantages as well. So, both of these Tablets can be used for one’ own choice.

Hewlett-Packard TouchPad tablet turned out to be last year’s biggest flop, although it was one of the most closely watched gadgets

TouchPad was supposed to come out into the market as a strong competitor for Apple’s iPad; however, weak sales and other consequences resulted in its lasting for just 7 weeks before HP killed it. Analysts have come up with a long list of reasons behind its failure, but people involved in its creation say it hardly had a chance to survive or fight in this massive tablet market.

It is consisted of a software known as WebOS, which is an operational system developed on the same technology many web browsers have used. It guaranteed to be more open and flexible as compared to Apple’s strictly controlled iOS software. It also promised to be more attractive than Google’s Android system. For using such software in TouchPad, HP hired Palm, the producer of WebOS in 2010 for 1.2 billion USD. WebOS has always been regarded as a toxic device due to the method it was built on. There was a very little hope for it since its origination, as it had deep flaws.

“Palm was ahead of its time in trying to build a phone software platform using Web technology, and we just weren’t able to execute such an ambitious and breakthrough design,” said Senior Director of Palm, Paul Mercer. “Perhaps it never could have been executed because the technology wasn’t there yet.”

This WebOS story also highlights the fact that how difficult it is to compete in a market where Google and Apple has a firm hold over mobile operating systems. These two companies have a big share over market and loyalty of several apps developers. There are many other companies who have got Android for their tablets and phones, and this result in their strong bonding with Google. HP could have a direct relationship with users by controlling both software and hardware, and it is only possible by owning WebOS.

Mercer is known for his remarkable design contributions to several Apple’s products and Palm hired him. After an internal debate, it was decided by company to have WebOS relied on WebKit, which is an open-source engine for browsers to display web pages. According to Mercer it was a blunder as it prevented apps from running fast.

In this regard a WebOS’s former member of app development team stated that the basic problem was company’s inability to place it over that podium where it could direct huge number of audiences and their loyalty. He further claimed that there were neither expert engineers nor right leaders to fulfill the task appropriately. From beginning till the end, it was developed in 9 months and company took advantage of shortcuts which resulted in grave flaws, said that person.