7-in. tablet makers find some success bypassing competition with Apple's iPad
Touch panel makers are apparently most optimistic about sales of 7-inch tablets, according to DigiTimes. Despite this, most vendors are planning devices with 10.1-inch displays in an effort to more directly compete with the iPad.
"The sources pointed out that Korea-based Samsung Electronics' 7-inch Galaxy Tab and ViewSonic's 7-inch ViewPad are both generating stronger sales than their 10.1-inch models," the report said. "The 7-inch models are lower priced and avoid direct competition against Apple iPad.
"Although 10.1-inch tablet PCs will allow vendors to add keyboard support to their machines, their sales are still not as stable as the 7-inch models."
The report said that the 7-inch tablet market is set to experience "fierce competition," as none of the current players have been able to establish a dominant presence in the market. The first major product to market was Samsung's Galaxy Tab, which debuted to lukewarm reviews late last year. Another major player has been the Barnes and Noble Nook Color, another Android-powered device with a 7-inch screen that has reportedly estimated to sell 3 million units by the end of March.
Last year, Apple was rumored to be exploring an entrance into the 7-inch size range with a new, smaller iPad. But Chief Executive Steve Jobs quashed those rumors last October when he slammed 7-inch tablets as too small to be usable.
Still, as recently as February, rumors of a new device sized between the 9.7-inch iPad and 3.5-inch iPod touch. The product, speculated to be either a "Super iPhone or "iPad Mini," was said by one analyst to launch in the second half of 2011.
86 Comments
1st woot. Three words: D.O.A. Pity the people that buy them and then realise that. How's Flash doing on it? More importantly, how's those Honeycomb updates coming along... Oh, wait, it's no longer open source ("at this stage")... Ah, the unmistakable smell of fail.
Small tablets are great for people who want something bigger than a smartphone, that they use infrequently. RIM's PlayBook is a good example -- the battery is truly pathetic (5.3 Wh versus the iPad's 25 Wh), but the smaller and lighter device is much better than an iPad for shoving in your pocket. I'd say this is a moderately-sized market of people with desktop computers (i.e. enterprise business people) who need something for meetings that they don't have to use all day. No doubt you can make a small-screen tablet with a big battery, but then it would lose the pocket advantage (at least for people who don't wear heavy canvas clothing).
For people who want a primary device, the iPad 2's battery life should be the defining difference when comparing to smaller tablets. That and the fact that iOS is still far superior to the alternatives. To most human beings the iPad 2 is also far superior as a device, but that's more subjective, I suppose.
BULLSHIT. Samsung Tab is more expensive than the iPad.
Don't forget how *CONFIDENT* Google is with Honeycomb:
From Business Week: “To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs,” says Andy Rubin, vice-president for engineering at Google and head of its Android group. “We didn’t want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones. It would have required a lot of additional resources and extended our schedule beyond what we thought was reasonable. So we took a shortcut.”
Mmm... Them honeycombs shure taste nice with shortcuts in them.
Don't get me wrong, the 7" form factor will have a role to play in the future. But with Honeycomb closed off, Android developers and manufacturers falling over each other to come out with anything credible within lower price points, I don't see anything worthwhile coming out in the next six months.