Telecom Lead
India: Google’s Nexus tablet will have the capabilities to take on
Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.
The launch of media tablet is critical for Google’s Android
tablet strategy.
Last week, Microsoft announced its Surface tablet.
“The Nexus 7 borrows heavily from the Amazon Kindle Fire in
that it puts content front and centre, but it doesn’t solve the biggest
challenge for Android tablets: the lack of apps optimized for the larger screen
size. At 7 inches, this problem is less acute, but it doesn’t solve the problem
and Google said nothing about how it will address this problem,” said Jan
Dawson, Ovum’s Chief Telecoms Analyst.
Ovum said the price point benefits from some subsidy and
therefore isn’t sustainable in the long term – Google still needs to solve the
fundamental problem of Android tablets, which is the lack of compelling apps
and content optimized for the devices.
The Nexus Q home media device is on paper very similar to the
Apple TV launched in 2007 – $299 for a device that streams content from the
cloud and attaches to a TV and other home media devices. The current Apple TV
sells for $99 and does far more, including mirroring smartphone and tablet
screens.
Google’s decision to make the device in the US may turn out
to be a self-defeating PR move, given that it’s the most logical reason for the
inflated $299 price point. Even the Apple TV, of course, doesn’t sell very
well, so there’s little hope for Google’s latest venture into the home
entertainment space at three times the price.
The new version of Android includes good improvements
including a competitor to Apple’s Siri and an innovative new service called
Google Now which uses artificial intelligence to serve up information relevant
to the user’s context proactively.
Google will begin seeding a platform developer kit, or PDK,
to hardware vendors several months before the platform is launched to users,
which is Google’s first attempt to reduce both fragmentation and the long
delays in getting the latest version of Android onto devices and into users’
pockets.
Some analysts are cagey that it will be able to make
substantial inroads into Apple’s dominant share.
Apple iPad dominates sales of tablets with almost 70 percent
of the market in the first quarter of 2012 according to IDC.
Online retailer Amazon sells its Kindle Fire tablet in the
U.S. and is expected to bring it to Europe later this year.
Google has made repeated efforts to break into the tablet
market defined by Apple with the launch of the iPad in January 2010. Its first
tablet-only software, Android 3.0 introduced in January 2011 was expected to
create challengers to Apple’s product, but fewer than 10 million sold in the
first year, while the iPad sold more than 38 million in 2011.
According to IDC, tablet sales will be almost 105 million this
year, and will hit 143 million in 2013 compared to total PC sales of about 400 million,
of which more than 60 percent will be laptops.
The Nexus 7 is expected to go on sale later this year, and
possibly running an as-yet unreleased version 5.0 of Android, called Jelly
Bean, rather than the current 4.0 version, Ice Cream Sandwich.
“If industry speculation is true, Apple will release a
smaller version of the iPad later this year, directly challenging the Kindle
and the Nook, creating an entirely new market segment for Apple. Assuming a
price of as little as $299, the smaller device would offer cost and portability
advantages, which could propel Apple to the top of the 7-inch tablet space, in
addition to its number one position for 10-inch tablets,” said Matthew McKee, analyst
at Strategy Analytics.
“Device value is determined by what consumers can read,
play, or watch on their tablet, and about the user experience, something that
has been sadly lacking in the $200 Tablets. Amazon’s Fire launched with strong
sales due largely to its content library and the large number of available
apps. Apple can rely heavily on iTunes and its apps ecosystem,” said Peter
King, director of Tablets & Touchscreen Strategies at Strategy Analytics. If industry speculation is true, Apple will release a
smaller version of the iPad later this year, directly challenging the Kindle
and the Nook, creating an entirely new market segment for Apple. Assuming a
price of as little as $299, the smaller device would offer cost and portability
advantages, which could propel Apple to the top of the 7-inch tablet space, in
addition to its number one position for 10-inch tablets,” said Matthew McKee, analyst
at Strategy Analytics.
“Device value is determined by what consumers can read,
play, or watch on their tablet, and about the user experience, something that
has been sadly lacking in the $200 Tablets. Amazon’s Fire launched with strong
sales due largely to its content library and the large number of available
apps. Apple can rely heavily on iTunes and its apps ecosystem,” said Peter
King, director of Tablets & Touchscreen Strategies at Strategy Analytics.
