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There isn't really much of a tablet market

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11–20 of 75 posts

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#11
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Unless you claim that Android is "bad software that actively interferes with usability" (because it doesn't officially support tablets yet, or has custom skins, or isn't integrated, or whatever), which the author seems to be, in a sense, saying. I'm not sure if I agree or not.)

I would say that while popular, Android on the whole is 'bad software' the same way Windows is. Doesn't mean it wont dominate the market.

[deleted]

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#12
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Unless you claim that Android is "bad software that actively interferes with usability" (because it doesn't officially support tablets yet, or has custom skins, or isn't integrated, or whatever), which the author seems to be, in a sense, saying. I'm not sure if I agree or not.)

I would say that while popular, Android on the whole is 'bad software' the same way Windows is. Doesn't mean it wont dominate the market.

I would argue that Android is currently not in a position to dominate the tablet market in the short term. It’s worse for tablets than Windows was for PCs and it has to (and undoubtedly will) improve in that respect this year. (It was not supposed to run on tablets so you can’t really hold that against Google.)

All Android tablets I tried felt like upscaled phones, they use more or less the same phone UI on a bigger screen. That’s just unattractive, why carry around that huge device when using a phone is approximately as comfortable? Tablets have to be more comfortable to use than phones. iOS makes better use of the additional real estate and using it is more fun than using a phone. It’s not just a huge iPod touch.

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#13
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Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#14

the main argument against tablets (bad software that actively interferes with usability) is going away. The market for tablets that are basically just laptops with a different form factor remains what it was before the ipad: small. the market for a tablet that is easy to hop on the couch with and surf for casual content is huge.

80-90% of computer users never leave the browser. The tablet will take over. Everything except power users will be using tablets in 5 years.

That seems a bit too optimistic (pessimistic?) to me. I would predict that more than two-thirds of households will have a tablet in five years. I can see tablets replacing kitchen or living room laptops that have become so common in the last years, I can’t see them replacing the office PC, at least not in five years. PCs (~ $800) and tablets (~ $500) are cheap enough to co-exist. I don’t think it was that long ago when you paid $1300 for one desktop PC.

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#15
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that while popular, Android on the whole is 'bad software' the same way Windows is. Doesn't mean it wont dominate the market.

I would argue that Android is currently not in a position to dominate the tablet market in the short term. It’s worse for tablets than Windows was for PCs and it has to (and undoubtedly will) improve in that respect this year. (It was not supposed to run on tablets so you can’t really hold that against Google.) All Android tablets I tried felt like upscaled phones, they use more or less the same phone UI on a bigger…

That's the entire point of Honeycomb. It's too provide native support for tablet interfaces.

*edit: native support for native interfaces doesn't make any sense:)

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#16
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Unless you claim that Android is "bad software that actively interferes with usability" (because it doesn't officially support tablets yet, or has custom skins, or isn't integrated, or whatever), which the author seems to be, in a sense, saying. I'm not sure if I agree or not.)

I would say that while popular, Android on the whole is 'bad software' the same way Windows is. Doesn't mean it wont dominate the market.

Really? You really believe that? I've been using an Android phone exclusively for the last year. I love it. I'm hardly alone. I find it a superior experience to the iPhone in a lot of ways.

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#17
post #3

The nook from B&N is recently reported as their new best-selling product. So I'd say that the non-iPad tablets are quickly gaining momentum. Would like to see some data backing up the author's claims.

The Nook is a reader, not a full-featured tablet. Apples and oranges.

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#18

The tablet market is too young to be regarded as miniscule. Software-wise, we have only started to think about touch input seriously. There still so much that can be done.

This strikes me as the right answer. We're not really sure yet. What if you can do input via brainwave headsets at 100 wpm in 5 years? Not impossible; you can type via brainwaves, right now.

Tablets could become nearly magical in less than a decade.

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#19

the main argument against tablets (bad software that actively interferes with usability) is going away. The market for tablets that are basically just laptops with a different form factor remains what it was before the ipad: small. the market for a tablet that is easy to hop on the couch with and surf for casual content is huge.

80-90% of computer users never leave the browser. The tablet will take over. Everything except power users will be using tablets in 5 years.

80-90% of websites use keyboard as an input mechanism.

I'm not seeing why a tablet is so massively better than a netbook/laptop.

Re: There isn't really much of a tablet market

#20
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Unless you claim that Android is "bad software that actively interferes with usability" (because it doesn't officially support tablets yet, or has custom skins, or isn't integrated, or whatever), which the author seems to be, in a sense, saying. I'm not sure if I agree or not.)

I would say that while popular, Android on the whole is 'bad software' the same way Windows is. Doesn't mean it wont dominate the market.

No reasons why? No examples? No comparisons between it and what you would consider "good software"?

You might be getting upvoted because the HackerNews hivemind has a giant hard-on for all things Apple, but don't think for a second that you're actually making a valid point. If you want to start an intelligent discussion then go right ahead, but keep the obvious fanboy flamebait out of this.

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