Comments on: Here’s the secret to Amazon’s, B&N’s tablet strategy

By: r00fus

r00fus — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:22:21 +0000

@Ethan,
You are incorrect. Media/Apps in the iOS ecosystem can be shared amongst numerous devices… like at least 10 (in my case, as I share with family).

By: David H. Deans

David H. Deans — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:52:54 +0000

Kevin, you said “The devices are often marketed more though the specifications and not on the experience the devices can provide.” That’s a spot-on assessment.

FYI, I have experienced this phenomenon first hand. I recently proposed an “application scenario” product review to a couple of the major Android Table and Chromebook manufacturer’s PR teams.

No takers, so far. They all seem puzzled by this approach — why would someone describing their personal applications and usage experiences be of interest to potential device buyers?

Most of the PR folks believe that once CNET and others have done the typical specs and feature/function evaluations, then their publicity task is complete. Mission accomplished, move on to the next product launch requested by the marketing team.

I’m guessing that these same PR people also discount the benefit of mainstream consumer feedback, or informal comments on social networks, etc. — they’re victims of their own “old school” mass-media mindset.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:00:22 +0000

I don’t hate any company and I do have an iPad. ;) The 7″ form factor was appealing to me – still is – and there was no WiFi version of the Galaxy Tab at the time. Also, the $40 per month is 5 GB of data with included tethering. Your $15 example is 200 MB and no tethering. And the lowest price iPad with 3G is $629, or more than double what I paid for the smaller tablet. You can’t just look at the monthly cost / contract data. Thx!

By: Tom Burke

Tom Burke — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:39:30 +0000

You’re paying $40/month ON CONTRACT for the Galaxy Tab data when you could have had an AT&T iPad data plan for $15/month with NO CONTRACT? You must really hate Apple to be willing to throw away that much money to avoid their products.

By: Raymond Padilla

Raymond Padilla — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:38:04 +0000

Even though the Nook Tablet has a spec advantage over the Kindle Fire, Amazon has such as advantage because it sells all media directly to the customer. Barnes & Noble has to rely on content partners. A simple and unified purchasing experience is much better than a fragmented one. I see the Fire slaughtering the Nook Tablet.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:03:05 +0000

That’s a good point, but bear in mind two things: the original Nook Color has reportedly sold at least 3 million units and Amazon’s Kindle Fire pre-order figures are also high. We can wait until the new devices ship, but I think the market for low cost media tablets has already been proven.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:57:24 +0000

How many Android tablets has Archos sold?

By: Tal

Tal — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:27:18 +0000

Unless something drastic happens for this Hanukkah its either an Amazon Fire or an Asus Transformer 2. A 7″ cheap or a 10″ monster. I can’t see people going much beyond that short list.

My problem is all of this mayhem is as usual my pocket size. Can’t these people make it say 6.5″ with almost no bezel? ~4″ wide is a magic number they haven’t mastered yet.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:24:18 +0000

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe you can copy apps or media to multiple iOS devices, so your argument, if I’m correct, is mute. Further, to any degree that your ecosystem is correct, it would be to the android devices benefit to a greater degree than Apple’s as more significantly more people are bought into the Android ecosystem.

By: minga

minga — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:27:00 +0000

“Surprisingly, it took two booksellers / digital content companies to figure out there’s a market for smaller, less expensive tablets that focus on key consumer activities.” Since neither has come out yet, I don’t think it’s yet been proven that there is a market for it. They are hoping there is, but they haven’t figured out jack yet.