03.19.12
Gemini version available ♊︎Android/Linux is Taking Over Tablets
Summary: A look at some of the latest news about Android in the tablets market
THE NEWS suggests that “Android Tablets Gain Market, Apple Loses” and we are not surprised. We usually put such news in our daily links. This is why Apple is suing. Its paid-for 'fans' are keeping the illusion of high demand while photos from the British press suggest that reality is vastly different these days:
Braying hordes of fanbois hungry for new iPads failed to turn up outside Blighty’s Apple stores today despite months of rumour, hype and speculation. Although slab shoppers were nonchalant in London, they were positively wet in Scotland.
A queue of hundreds swiftly ebbed away outside the fruity tech titan’s Regent Street outlet, allowing at least one punter who rocked up at 9am to grab the improved fondleslab five minutes later.
The line was much more muted than previous iPad launches during which unlucky fans were turned away empty-handed.
Well, the same thing that happened in phones* will happen in tablets in due course, provided the patent assaults fail. Tablets in general are gaining traction at the expense of other form factors, so this is an important battle. Linux is taking over tablets despite challenges from the desktop duopoly:
At this point, there’s no denying that Linux — despite high hopes early-on — is a late-entry to the world of tablets. But that doesn’t mean open-source enthusiasts have written off this segment of the hardware market. On the contrary, a number of initiatives to make Linux a viable choice for tablet users are in rapid development. Read on for a look.
In a lot of ways, Linux’s relationship with tablets is comparable to the open-source ecosystem’s experience with netbooks several years ago. When netbook hardware first began hitting the market in droves, Linux seemed like the perfect companion: It was inexpensive, highly customizable and well suited to new devices where users started out with fewer preconceptions than on traditional PCs.
A comparison is then made to sub-notebooks, where Microsoft used anti-competitive dumping to suppress competition (at loss at itself). This won’t work in tablets because Android is already very mature and well established in the market. Patents are a bigger issue right now as some Android tablets are being unfairly taxed by Microsoft. Some might say “illegally” and not “unfairly” because racketeering is not legal. █
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* In the past two days two friends approached me with Android phones which they had begun using. I assured them that it was better than “iPhone”, except the brand.
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Michael said,
March 19, 2012 at 3:37 pm
I notice you failed to show anything that Apple was losing. In any case, the only public info I can find on the new iPad sales:
http://wp.me/p10Eoa-1CQ
—–
The new iPad (or iPad 3 as some still call it) hit record
sales during its first weekend on the market, this according
to Apple CEO Tim Cook during a conference call today. What
we didn’t get are any specific numbers as to what the sales
volume came in at. Tim Cook said specifically that ”we had a
record weekend, and we are thrilled with it.”
——
Still, I hope Apple *and* other companies well in this area – assuming the others are not just plagiarizing Apple. Competition is good for us all.