Apple's iPhone trumps Android in enterprise adoption, iPad dominates

[vvswarup]

No, its exactly like the iPhone market. You'll see many manufacturers produce many units selling more tablets then the iPad because people enjoy freedom and the opportunity to choose a tablet that suits their needs.

Apple is enjoying great success with the iPad at the moment because they are the only game in town. As more and more android tablets hit the streets you'll start seeing a shift in market share

People like choice, but there is a point at which the benefit of added choice isn't worth the cost of putting out in the market and it begins to confuse prospective consumers. This is the law of diminishing returns. The Android platform is approaching that level. After a certain point, flooding the market with more models is not going to do the consumer any good. It will confuse consumers and the OEMs will drag down their profits.

Also, the iPad is still the cheapest tablet on the market in its class. I'm not counting uber-cheap tablets like the Coby Kyros. In spite of being so inexpensive, Apple is still able to find ways to cut costs and margins on the iPad are approaching 30 percent. If Motorola had priced the Xoom at the same price point as the iPad, they would make no more than mere pennies on the dollar at best. Heck, the Xoom might even have been selling at a loss if it were priced like the iPad.

The main reason why I think the tablet wars will not resemble the smartphone wars is that they're different animals. A phone needs less reason to justify its existence. Tablets need more of a reason to justify their existence.

Also, as much as Android has become a successful platform and is trouncing iOS in terms of market share, iOS is far more profitable. At the end of the day, it's profit that matters. Market share is not what's going to help Google develop the next version of Android. Market share is not going to help HTC produce the next great smartphone. Companies like Google and HTC have to earn profits in order to plow that money into new products.

 

[Cerebrus' Maw]

Companies like Google and HTC have to earn profits in order to plow that money into new products.

Considering HTC have just posted an expected 97% increase in profit for 2nd quarter, ($4.17BN), they seem to be doing pretty well.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110429-703732.html

 

[vvswarup]

Considering HTC have just posted an expected 97% increase in profit for 2nd quarter, ($4.17BN), they seem to be doing pretty well.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110429-703732.html

The title of that article refers to a 97% increase in REVENUE. Revenue is sales. Profit is not the same as revenue. Profit is basically (revenue-expenses).

 

[KingCrimson]

There are already stylii for the iPad, I'm using one right now...

 

[Cerebrus' Maw]

The title of that article refers to a 97% increase in REVENUE. Revenue is sales. Profit is not the same as revenue. Profit is basically (revenue-expenses).

Apologies, I meant to say revenue in the link.

In the same article, you can see where they still have tripled their first quarter net income, which, even given a 15% increase in operating margin, is very healthy. And all pretty much on the back of Android.

And HTC are one (if not the only??) company that pays Microsoft a license fee for using a 'MS patent'.

 

[maflynn]

People like choice, but there is a point at which the benefit of added choice isn't worth the cost of putting out in the market and it begins to confuse prospective consumers. This is the law of diminishing returns. The Android platform is approaching that level. After a certain point, flooding the market with more models is not going to do the consumer any good. It will confuse consumers and the OEMs will drag down their profits.

To be sure the market can only handle certain number of android phones, but it hasn't reached that. My point also was that since apple is the only real game in town, they have the largest marketshare. Now that android is ramping up for tablets. Its only natural to think that history is going to repeat itself. Just go back in history and see how a popular closed company fared when in competition with a system that was available across multiple manufacturers (mac vs. pc).

Also, the iPad is still the cheapest tablet on the market in its class. I'm not counting uber-cheap tablets like the Coby Kyros. In spite of being so inexpensive, Apple is still able to find ways to cut costs and margins on the iPad are approaching 30 percent. If Motorola had priced the Xoom at the same price point as the iPad, they would make no more than mere pennies on the dollar at best. Heck, the Xoom might even have been selling at a loss if it were priced like the iPad.

Indeed and the greed of some manufacturers are impacting the sales of their new tablets. Xoom is an excellent example, with that said, they already know this. Heck the nvidia CEO mentioned this on a cnet article. I expect more consumer friendly price points from android tablets in the near future.

The main reason why I think the tablet wars will not resemble the smartphone wars is that they're different animals. A phone needs less reason to justify its existence. Tablets need more of a reason to justify their existence.

The same argument could be made back during the Mac vs. PC days as there was little justification for computers for consumers back then. Anyways fast forward to 2011 and I think the market is extremely similar to the phones. People choose android for a variety of reasons. One of which is that its non-apple. Yes, there are many people who don't like or even hate apple. In fact that sentiment is seemingly increasing based on what I see out in the real world and interweb.

Secondly, people want choice. While the iPad is a great device (I own one) many people chafe under the closed garden approach.

Thirdly, people choose what they like, and some prefer what android provide.

multiple manufacturers producing multiple tablets will out pace a single company producing a single product.

Also, as much as Android has become a successful platform and is trouncing iOS in terms of market share, iOS is far more profitable. At the end of the day, it's profit that matters. Market share is not what's going to help Google develop the next version of Android. Market share is not going to help HTC produce the next great smartphone. Companies like Google and HTC have to earn profits in order to plow that money into new products.

The last time I looked HTC and Google's profits were on the upswing.

 

[JAT]

That is one issue I have with a lot of modern tablets like iPad and the Honeycomb tablets is you can not use a stylus on them at all.

There are just certain things that a stylus is better than using your finger. If you want to do a quick drawing for example a stylus is a heck of a lot better. Write a quick note again stylus. Put arrows on a document or circle things again stylus.

Thanks for the info. I'll tell my mom to stop doing all those things on her iPad, since she apparently can't.

Ooh, and I'll visit the nearest Apple Store and tell them to stop using styli on their iPod Touches. Since they don't exist.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Thanks for the info. I'll tell my mom to stop doing all those things on her iPad, since she apparently can't.

Ooh, and I'll visit the nearest Apple Store and tell them to stop using styli on their iPod Touches. Since they don't exist.

I never said you couldn't. I just said that with a stylus it is easier at better.

This was a topic talk about here a while ago and one dev explained the design of I know iOS and safe to say anything else that uses a capacitance screen and that is anything under a certain size is complete ignored as noise. This was on the 3gs and down but it was like 30 pixels in size.

You can not get around the fact that a stylus for certain things is just a heck of a lot better than a finger. I was giving examples of were a stylus would be better. It is the increased accuracy and control is why it is better than a finger. My guess is it would require combining a resistive touch screen with that of a capacitance.

This is not iOS vs others but the current tablet design and how it could be made a lot better.

 

[vvswarup]

To be sure the market can only handle certain number of android phones, but it hasn't reached that. My point also was that since apple is the only real game in town, they have the largest marketshare. Now that android is ramping up for tablets. Its only natural to think that history is going to repeat itself. Just go back in history and see how a popular closed company fared when in competition with a system that was available across multiple manufacturers (mac vs. pc).


Indeed and the greed of some manufacturers are impacting the sales of their new tablets. Xoom is an excellent example, with that said, they already know this. Heck the nvidia CEO mentioned this on a cnet article. I expect more consumer friendly price points from android tablets in the near future.


The same argument could be made back during the Mac vs. PC days as there was little justification for computers for consumers back then. Anyways fast forward to 2011 and I think the market is extremely similar to the phones. People choose android for a variety of reasons. One of which is that its non-apple. Yes, there are many people who don't like or even hate apple. In fact that sentiment is seemingly increasing based on what I see out in the real world and interweb.

Secondly, people want choice. While the iPad is a great device (I own one) many people chafe under the closed garden approach.

Thirdly, people choose what they like, and some prefer what android provide.

multiple manufacturers producing multiple tablets will out pace a single company producing a single product.



The last time I looked HTC and Google's profits were on the upswing.

Indeed and the greed of some manufacturers are impacting the sales of their new tablets. Xoom is an excellent example, with that said, they already know this. Heck the nvidia CEO mentioned this on a cnet article. I expect more consumer friendly price points from android tablets in the near future.

Don't be so shortsighted. Manufacturers have to make a certain amount of profit in order to continue to innovate and improve on their products. Based on the production costs and a desired profit level, manufacturers decide the selling price. Motorola did not price the entry-level Xoom at $800 out of greed. Like I said in my previous post, if Motorola had priced the Xoom at iPad levels, they would have made at most a few cents in profit, if not lose money on it. So it's not greed. Motorola is going to have to figure out how to bring its costs down in order to make enough profit at iPad-level prices.

To be sure the market can only handle certain number of android phones, but it hasn't reached that. My point also was that since apple is the only real game in town, they have the largest marketshare. Now that android is ramping up for tablets. Its only natural to think that history is going to repeat itself. Just go back in history and see how a popular closed company fared when in competition with a system that was available across multiple manufacturers (mac vs. pc).

Like I said previously, tablets are a different animal than computers and smartphones. As I said, tablets need more of a reason to justify their existence than computers and smartphones. Also, it can be said that people pay a premium to use Apple products, hence the term "Apple tax." This is not true of tablets, however. The iPad is the least expensive tablet in its class. In spite of this, Apple earns a healthy margin of around 30%. Apple is still able to find ways to cut costs. What's to stop Apple from cutting the price of iPad in order to stave off the competition.

Apple enjoys several advantages which it did not have with smartphones and computers that give it the commanding position in the tablet market. However, RIM has shown us that a commanding position in a market holds no staying power of its own. The tablet wars are like an NBA basketball game. Leads change quickly. If any company has proven that it can stay on top of its game and continue to improve, it's Apple.

While Android will improve and become a contender to the iPad, I would not be so quick to bet against Apple.

 

[neiltc13]

Can someone please explain where the "Motorola Xoom is $800" nonsense came from?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Motorol...33252&skuId=1946197&st=motorla xoom&cp=1&lp=1

 

[roadbloc]

Can someone please explain where the "Motorola Xoom is $800" nonsense came from?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Motorol...33252&skuId=1946197&st=motorla xoom&cp=1&lp=1

*LTD* may have done a thread about it I seem to recall. (Apologies if I am mistaken btw.)

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_2 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C134b Safari/6533.18.5)

Can someone please explain where the "Motorola Xoom is $800" nonsense came from?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Motorol...33252&skuId=1946197&st=motorla xoom&cp=1&lp=1

*LTD* may have done a thread about it I seem to recall. (Apologies if I am mistaken btw.)

Nah, wasn't me that time. I didn't ever really comment on the pricing.

 

[roadbloc]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_2 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C134b Safari/6533.18.5)



Nah, wasn't me that time. I didn't ever really comment on the pricing.

Fair enough. I'm sure I saw an excel-style table of it somewhere. Never mind.