torok said:
These data depends on the analyst and it only started to look this way this month after the hollydays. Overall, Samsung has 20~25% of market share in the global tablet market last year:
Despite that, N7 shipments are probably around 6 million now and that is a expressive number. As any Nexus device, it has a limited distribution and availability, it's much easier to get a Kindle. And don't give much credit to Kindle Fire, it will become way less important soon as we see new Android 7' tablets with that price (Acer announced one for US$ 99). Kindle Fire started the wave of US$ 200 tablets, but Nexus set the bar for US$ 200 tablets with powerfull hardware and a full Android experience. That is something that will be followed by the other manufacturers and will bring a lot of trouble for Kindle Fire. And its not just price that is driving Android tablet sales, it's the healthy app ecosystem. Windows on US$ 200 tablet is not happening right now and will start with Win RT, that has less apps than Android since it can't run normal Windows apps. If the rumours about a full Office suit on Android and iOs are correct, Win RT will lose its only advantage and will be in a bad position. The full W8, that has more apps than Android or iOs, won't happen with x86 in cheap tablets and will be avaiable only in more expensive tablets and ultrabooks (of course, in tradicional laptops and PCs, but that is a different market). |
There are some valid points here...keeping the price low and experience high is something Android is starting to do with Devices like N7. However like I said, things aren't as rosy for android on the tablet side as they are on the phone side.
In terms of apps, Android actually has less tablet optimized apps than Windows RT (over 40,000 in 3 months). Sure you can use a lot of phone designed apps but they can have various issues on tablets...from UI elements out of whack to functionality issues due to lack of phone related hardware. So yeah, quantity doesn't mean quality... At this rate 6 months Windown 8/RT should have a very strong tablet focused ecosystem.
Also there are fullblown x86 tablets that cost 499 and runn all Windows apps and most x86 programs thanks to the intel's clovertrail platform. These Atom CPUs are only going to get more powerful with better battery life and already they beat the Windows RT ARM based tablets. If WinRt is able to get down to 299 price level while x86 starts at 399 by next christmas, these devices will be very good value for the experience and features they offer.
The final point I want to make is that with Windows 8/RT, Microsoft has finally put themselves ahead of the curve. They were late to various new technology markets but for the first time they have a unified platform that scales on to desktops, tablets phones (possibly consoles) very easily. Apple stil has iOS and OSX, Google has Android and Chrome OS. They still have to go through this transition as this is the future. Is Windows 8/RT perfect? Absolutely not... but it's in important first step which actually puts Microsoft ahead of the pack for the very first time in almost a decade.
