Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet Undercuts Apple’s iPad by a Huge Margin
Google takes charge as existing Android tablets fail to make significant dent in iPad’s popularity
Google’s pulled off a fantastic price for its first tablet – $199 for a 7-inch, quad-core device manufactured by Asus. It’s called the Nexus 7 and will be the first to ship with the latest Android 4.1 (Jellybean). At the price, it most surely is an impulse buy, unlike the iPad, which is most certainly a well-advised and researched purchase decision. In many ways, the Nexus 7 is the result of Google taking charge of things, because existing Android tablets have failed to make any significant dent in the iPad’s popularity.
At the Google I/O developer conference, where the Nexus 7 was showcased, some startling statistics on Android were shared. There are currently 400 million Android devices in the world, and Google is activating more at the rate of 1 million devices (both phones and tablets) per day. Countries like India, Thailand and Brazil have seen 400% increase in activations on a year-on-year basis. There are now over 6,00,000 apps on the Google Play store and apps have been collectively downloaded over 20 billion times.
However, the market is heavily skewed towards Android smartphones. IDC predicts that by the end of 2012, Android’s smartphone market share will be close to 61% of the total smartphone market. The same report pegs iPhone’s market share at 19%. Tablets are a different ball game though. Around the time of the launch of the new iPad, Forrester Research noted that the iPad held 73% of the global tablet market. Google obviously plans to shake up the Android tablet market, but what does it mean for the lot of existing 7-inch tablets which are priced much higher? Will it be competing with the iPad?
ET spoke with Jeff Orr, group director, consumer and mobile at ABI Research, a technology-focused market research firm. “Android Jellybean allows for a lot of fluidity of applications and makes integrated applications like search work better. So there’s nothing revolutionary with the Nexus 7 — just better functionality” he said. “However, my biggest concern is that Google announcing a tablet by its own name could hurt the Android tablet ecosystem.
Samsung, Asus and other vendors have built a relationship with Google over the years, sharing sensitive information about their products and where these would be in the coming few years. Google now has this information which it could use to improve its own product and services. So it now enters into direct competition with these vendors.”
Commenting on Nexus competing with the iPad, he added: “The mixed messages in the Android market and fragmented competition means that Apple can keep its own focus. There will be no market backlash for tablet market leader Apple. Because Apple prices are above consumer impulse purchase levels, people will actually do their research thoroughly before buying an iPad. All the Android confusion could also help sway confused consumers to buying tablets from an established dominant market leader like Apple and possibly boost Apple sales. Apple can continue to keep its focus and better its product.”
No comments:
Post a Comment