What Google’s Honeycomb Means for Apple and Microsoft

Table of Contents

  1. Summary
  2. Honeycomb: What is It?
  3. Implications for Apple
  4. Implications for Microsoft
  5. Also in Honeycomb’s Sights
  6. Key Takeaways
  7. Further Reading
  8. About Kevin C. Tofel
  9. About Colin Gibbs

1. Summary

Overall tablet sales for 2011 are estimated in the tens of millions, and new to the pack is Android 3.0. Known as Honeycomb, Android 3.0 is a tablet-specific mobile platform Google introduced after months of anticipation. A number of the OS’s new features and functions — from smarter widgets to a new graphics engine to video chat that competes directly with FaceTime — appear specific to slates, but some are sure to filter down to smartphones, bringing a greater level of Android unification across device types. And while Apple’s iPad may have the current lead in the market, Honeycomb puts Google in an excellent position to catch up, much as Android has done in competing with iOS. But Apple isn’t the only competitor Google’s got in its crosshairs: Microsoft is also likely to be impacted, from both a mobile and a desktop computing perspective.

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