I have been away from this site for far too long and for the last month or so, I have stayed away because I had been away too long. I simply do not know where to begin in getting back into putting down my thoughts on this blog.
One thing that has changed is my gadget status. When I was last writing regularly, I was a gadget-starved gadget junkie. I am a bit better fed now.
Microsoft Surface
This is the original version and the RT variety, not the Pro. Quick review. I love it, even though I do not use it as much as I thought I would. With the addition of a TypeCover I can do virtually anything on it that I can do on the PC that I am presently typing this on.
Dell Venue 8 Pro
Now, the funny part is that my 8" Tablet runs full Windows 8, while my 10" Tablet runs RT. I love this one as well. I got the smaller tablet because I do not like to read on the larger one. Also, I discovered that my phone, which is one of the biggest on the market isn't big enough for reading on.
On the subject of Windows RT versus Windows 8 is that it really does not make a difference. I have no legacy programs that I use on my tablets, so the smaller tablet could have RT on it and I would not notice.
HTC One Max
This is the big phone, 5.9", which makes it larger than the Galaxy Note. I love the real estate, but it has a few annoying things, like the change in the buttons, which is really annoying because you have to double tap the home button to get the running programs list. It doesn't always work. Overall, I really like it.
I still have my Hisense Sero 7 Pro, but it gives me problems from time to time and I do not use it much.
So, this is my first time back in a while, but I intend to write more often, so watch out.
Showing posts with label gadgets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gadgets. Show all posts
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Monday, May 7, 2012
Recipe for Success in the Tablet Market
Google Tablet: A very good thing done the right way
Well, the guys over at Tech Republic got me going again. Now, usually I don't like James Kendrick and I cannot say that I like this article either. This was my response...
You're looking at the wrong model again.
Kindle isn't the target. Neither is the iPad. They should take a page from the Galaxy Note. Now, I can hear you groaning and rolling your eyes, and you'd be right if I thought the Galaxy Note was the target...but it isn't.
Why did the iPad succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.
Why did the Kindle succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.
Why did the Galaxy Note succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.
Do you see the pattern?
Samsung copies the iPad, but with a different aspect ratio and Android as the OS (Galaxy Tab 10.1), and????? It failed. Ditto for Asus, Acer, Dell (even if theirs was 7"). They were all designed to lure users away from Apple.
Kindle did things differently and it succeeded. It's aimed at different users, someone who wants something Apple doesn't really offer...no they don't, get over it.
Galaxy Note did things differently, and it succeeded. It ran different ads. It talked about what it does that the others don't. Not what features they have that others don't, but what you can do with a stylus and their new software. Big Hit.
Phones are a different market, and you cannot compare the success of Android in the phone market to the tablet market. Everyone carries a phone. Every gets a new phone every couple of years. It's a repeat market that has already been built, though it is still expanding.
Tablets aren't going to be subsidized. The iPad isn't. The Kindle isn't. Okay, so to a certain extend both may be by the expectation of future sales, but they are not directly subsidized by two year contracts. Kindle comes closes, but you are not required to be a Prime customer to buy one. Yes, people do buy unsubsidized phones, but what percentage of the market? The main phone market is subsidized.
Tablets are never going to be big as a subsidized product, because you cannot charge for the phone contract, only the data.
Tablets have to stand on their own, and so far the biggest problem for Android tablets is that the iPad does it better, and it doesn't cost that much more. There is no firm value proposition to the present tablet market. If I take your suggestion of tying the tablet to Google services as the suggestion of giving it a strong value proposition, then you are at least partially right, but when that set of Services isn't really better than Apple's, of Amazon's, then it just doesn't wash. iPad and Kindle will still beat them.
As the iPad did, and still does, and as the Kindle Fire did, and as the Galaxy Note did, they need to find something that the Google tablet will do better than any other tablet, and sell that as the important feature people should want.
So far, all the Android Tablets are trying to be a better, or cheaper iPad...and they are failing. You are suggesting that Google build a better Kindle Fire...and that is going to fail as well, because the Google services aren't as good and don't have the following of the Amazon Services. And what I was trying to say earlier is that they shouldn't try to build a better Galaxy Note. Each of these successes has its own equivalent of the killer app. Google needs to find theirs.
Well, the guys over at Tech Republic got me going again. Now, usually I don't like James Kendrick and I cannot say that I like this article either. This was my response...
You're looking at the wrong model again.
Kindle isn't the target. Neither is the iPad. They should take a page from the Galaxy Note. Now, I can hear you groaning and rolling your eyes, and you'd be right if I thought the Galaxy Note was the target...but it isn't.
Why did the iPad succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.
Why did the Kindle succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.
Why did the Galaxy Note succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.
Do you see the pattern?
Samsung copies the iPad, but with a different aspect ratio and Android as the OS (Galaxy Tab 10.1), and????? It failed. Ditto for Asus, Acer, Dell (even if theirs was 7"). They were all designed to lure users away from Apple.
Kindle did things differently and it succeeded. It's aimed at different users, someone who wants something Apple doesn't really offer...no they don't, get over it.
Galaxy Note did things differently, and it succeeded. It ran different ads. It talked about what it does that the others don't. Not what features they have that others don't, but what you can do with a stylus and their new software. Big Hit.
Phones are a different market, and you cannot compare the success of Android in the phone market to the tablet market. Everyone carries a phone. Every gets a new phone every couple of years. It's a repeat market that has already been built, though it is still expanding.
Tablets aren't going to be subsidized. The iPad isn't. The Kindle isn't. Okay, so to a certain extend both may be by the expectation of future sales, but they are not directly subsidized by two year contracts. Kindle comes closes, but you are not required to be a Prime customer to buy one. Yes, people do buy unsubsidized phones, but what percentage of the market? The main phone market is subsidized.
Tablets are never going to be big as a subsidized product, because you cannot charge for the phone contract, only the data.
Tablets have to stand on their own, and so far the biggest problem for Android tablets is that the iPad does it better, and it doesn't cost that much more. There is no firm value proposition to the present tablet market. If I take your suggestion of tying the tablet to Google services as the suggestion of giving it a strong value proposition, then you are at least partially right, but when that set of Services isn't really better than Apple's, of Amazon's, then it just doesn't wash. iPad and Kindle will still beat them.
As the iPad did, and still does, and as the Kindle Fire did, and as the Galaxy Note did, they need to find something that the Google tablet will do better than any other tablet, and sell that as the important feature people should want.
So far, all the Android Tablets are trying to be a better, or cheaper iPad...and they are failing. You are suggesting that Google build a better Kindle Fire...and that is going to fail as well, because the Google services aren't as good and don't have the following of the Amazon Services. And what I was trying to say earlier is that they shouldn't try to build a better Galaxy Note. Each of these successes has its own equivalent of the killer app. Google needs to find theirs.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sad Gadget Head
I am a sad gadget head.
I am a huge gadget head, I love to read about all the latest phones, and tablets. I love to debate whether we are in the Post-PC world or not (I still sit with not). I read gadget blogs, and subscribe to gadget newsletters and I can bore most normal people to tear with gadget ramblings...but, there's a problem.
I don't make enough to buy the latest gadgets. I bought an original Razr when they were well past their primetime of coolness. I bought my last feature phone when everyone was going to smartphones, and a Windows Mobile phone on the eve of the release of Windows Phone 7. Now, here is the one place where I caught the curve. Thanks to Microsoft, I got Windows Phone 7 before it was officially released, but because I am on Verizon, I then had to wait many months before I could get Windows Phone 7 and use it as a phone.
Now, my geek-gadget-headed-ness is pushing me towards a tablet, but I cannot afford one of the latest models, with Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich (those are Android flavors for you tech cretins), no, the only thing I can afford runs lowly Froyo, the old version of Android.
I'd love to have a nice shiny Asus Transformer Prime, but I simply cannot afford it...or at least I cannot justify the expense with so many other things that need doing. I can barely afford a Samsung Galaxy Tab...and I don't mean the Galaxy Tab 10.1, or 7.7, but the old original 7 inch version of the Tab. I am having trouble pulling the trigger on the sale, because...it is such an old version, and I am tired of being behind the curve.
I need to win the lottery, just to fuel my gadget addiction....well, actually...I need to win the lottery to START a gadget addiction.
I am a huge gadget head, I love to read about all the latest phones, and tablets. I love to debate whether we are in the Post-PC world or not (I still sit with not). I read gadget blogs, and subscribe to gadget newsletters and I can bore most normal people to tear with gadget ramblings...but, there's a problem.
I don't make enough to buy the latest gadgets. I bought an original Razr when they were well past their primetime of coolness. I bought my last feature phone when everyone was going to smartphones, and a Windows Mobile phone on the eve of the release of Windows Phone 7. Now, here is the one place where I caught the curve. Thanks to Microsoft, I got Windows Phone 7 before it was officially released, but because I am on Verizon, I then had to wait many months before I could get Windows Phone 7 and use it as a phone.
Now, my geek-gadget-headed-ness is pushing me towards a tablet, but I cannot afford one of the latest models, with Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich (those are Android flavors for you tech cretins), no, the only thing I can afford runs lowly Froyo, the old version of Android.
I'd love to have a nice shiny Asus Transformer Prime, but I simply cannot afford it...or at least I cannot justify the expense with so many other things that need doing. I can barely afford a Samsung Galaxy Tab...and I don't mean the Galaxy Tab 10.1, or 7.7, but the old original 7 inch version of the Tab. I am having trouble pulling the trigger on the sale, because...it is such an old version, and I am tired of being behind the curve.
I need to win the lottery, just to fuel my gadget addiction....well, actually...I need to win the lottery to START a gadget addiction.
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