Posted on 08/23/2010 10:02:07 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
In the past week or so, just about every technology company out there has announced or has been rumored to be carrying a Google (GOOG) Android-based tablet. Here's a list I've compiled below:
HTC is using Israeli-based N-Trig to build their Android tablet for shipment in time for holiday shoppers according to TheMarker. The timing may be tied to a dubious rumor but N-trig is separately working with HTC on multi-touch tablets and HTC is one of the leading suppliers of Android devices in the world.
Chang Ma, vice president of marketing for LG's mobile-devices unit told the WSJ, that LG's Android tablet will set itself apart from Apple Inc.'s iPad by focusing on the ability to create content, rather than simply display it. It will also have "high-end features and new benefits," many of which will focus on productivity, Mr. Ma said. "It's going to be surprisingly productive. Our tablet will be better than the iPad." Those are some mighty big words.
Motorola is rumored to be building a 10-inch Android tablet, codenamed 'Stingray', that will sell at the end of the year on Verizon's wireless network. Motorola's(MOT) Android tablet will be bundled with Verizon and may have GoogleTV functionality according to various reports. CNet gives this product the best chance at challenging the iPad.
Samsung is likely introducing its Galaxy Tab seven-inch Android tablet at IFA 2010, which starts September 3rd in Berlin. Standout features for this product will be its front and back cameras, 3G (Vodafone?) and Super AMOLED display. Samsung may also launch its iPod touch competitor, the Yepp YP-MB2 four inch mini tablet at the event. This device is essentially a Samsung Galaxy S phone without the 3G hardware inside. It will still have the Android market, however.
(Excerpt) Read more at tech.fortune.cnn.com ...
I’m looking forward to try them out. I was hoping that the iPad would hit the Apple refurb store but so far no dice.
There’s an app for that...............
Do they make it in liquid form....That's way too big for me to swallow
The PC paradigm, on the other hand, was more of an "open architecture" approach, which led to a large number of companies all developing hardware that would run under the Microsoft operating systems, which were not so tightly held.
One begins to suspect that the same dynamic is at work here. Let's just grant that Apple's iPad represents a new paradigm (which I actually doubt, but let's grant it).
These other companies are already beginning to capitalize on the iPad's perceived weaknesses, and taking advantage of more open hardware and software architectures.
Unless Apple changes their approach, I suspect that before too long, Bill Gates or somebody like him will be bailing out Steve Jobs once again.
I don’t want one, I don’t need one. I have no need to be “connected” and traced everywhere I go. I have no need to know when others are pooping.
Apple's approach is to make money. Those open system manufacturers lose money on the low end, that's why the work so hard to get you to upgrade and upgrade and upgrade before you leave their website.
Apple only sells the high end high-quality product, and makes more money than the HP and Dell combined.
You don’t swallow it.
It goes in the other end
You don’t swallow it.
It goes in the other end
Apple is suppose to announce the iTV next month. A television based on their OS and design. My guess a huge iPad.
But, users will have a lot of control over television from the net.
Fixed that for you. HP and Dell each make more revenue, but not as much profit (lower profit margins).
And of course Microsoft makes even more revenue AND more profit than Apple, both in absolute dollars and as percent profit margin on revenue...;)
The closed system approach almost put Apple out of business once before.
Apple only sells the high end high-quality product, and makes more money than the HP and Dell combined.
That's what they kept saying about the Mac, back when they were almost put out of business the last time.
Love my little iRobot! Cost was $100, with the 8 GB MicroSD card. Upgraded to Android 2.1, it runs fast, efficiently, lasts about 8 hours on a charge, and is a great form factor. It’s a 7” screen, so easily held in one hand, weighs about 300 grams (about 1/3rd of an iPad), and has plenty of power and features for what I need.
Being able to share memory cards with my phone and digital camera is great; no need to hook up cables or to my computer to move stuff around. I can use the built-in 4 GB of FLASH in the iRobot as a swap drive if needed, but honestly, with the cost and insanely small size of MicroSD cards (I think I have a few extras in my wallet, with my 3 international SIM cards), it’s easy to carry 64+ GB without even knowing you have them!
Thanks. In my business I only care about profit.
Apple has passed Microsoft in market cap and has about a $100 billion lead over Google.
If I care about “money” I’ll take Apple’s business model.
Because the hired a CEO who took them out of their business model. They even experimented with your advice and licensed the OS for more "open" system business model. Big mistakes.
They're back using the winning formula. They still have to innovate and build high quality products, but as this article illustrates, so far they are doing this with the iPad.
At a price, of course... Apple’s not known for letting content be free! You’ll get the “pleasure” of paying for that streaming video on your iTV, and knowing Apple, it will probably be $1.99 per “channel” selected. After all, if you’re paying $50 per month for cable, why not pay $40 per month to Apple for the 20 channels you “really” want?
Meanwhile, I like streaming Hulu and Netflix and Youtube on my iRobot, my laptop, and my HTPC. All for either free (Hulu and Youtube), or a fixed, low monthly rate ($9 per month for Netflix, and all the instant movies I want).
I can also stream to those devices even when overseas, thanks to the ability to run VPNs on each device (back to a US based computer). It’s nice to keep up with news and shows I like when I’m over in Asia for 5-8 weeks at a shot. I wonder if the iTV will let you run a VPN connection? If not, you’re out of luck if you want to take it traveling with you...
Some in my family have the current Apple TV version. They like it, but I don’t see it for me, I’m not that much into Tv though and don’t have nearly the movie library they do.
I like the Netflix $9 streaming offer. They still need to stream more content, but I’m happy with the value so far.
Apple has passed Microsoft in market cap and has about a $100 billion lead over Google.
Then you should care about Microsoft, who has MUCH more profit margin and more profit dollars - and gives you a nice fat dividend - as compared to Apple.
If I care about “money” I’ll take Apple’s business model.
Suit yourself! I care about "money", so I go with the company that makes more of it in gross and net terms, keeps more of their gross, and shares that money with me at a regular rate (dividend). And who's profitability has grown more - as a percentage - over the last 8 years as well.
Also means there's a lot smaller chance their stock is in a bubble right now... I mean, a higher market cap for a company with less revenue, less profit, lower profit margins, much less market share, no market leadership, and no dividend? That's the classic sign of a bubble.
Add in free Hulu and the bar for media delivery on the Internet has been set - $10 per month is about what Apple needs to do if they want to capture any more of the market than their existing base of users.
Especially when you consider there are 74+ million Nintendo Wii and 60+ million Xbox systems out there which already stream Netflix and Hulu. That's an installed base that Apple will need to consider - about half of the households in America already have this capability. Selling yet another box to duplicate that functionality - especially at a higher monthly cost - will be a VERY tough sale, other than to the existing Apple adherents (who are, in fact, a small minority of the market).
It’s been a long bubble. And Msft is not bubbling much anymore.
Side question: How does Google make money off the Android? Do they get it all from the phone manufacturer, phone service provider, support or..?
I haven’t seen anything on how this works, but I imagine Google has some solid plan in mind. Any idea of the business model there?
A MaxiPad?
On the Apple vs. Microsoft, I looked up the dividend situation. From what I see the situation has reversed in the last decade:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/187093-apple-vs-microsoft-over-the-past-20-years
The lack of a memory card slot in the iPad is a show-stopper failing for me (even before noting that it's obviously a method to enable Apple to charge an extra $100 for 16GB or 32GB of additional memory -- the latter is overpriced and the former is downright highway robbery).
Anyway, like it or not, the tablet is going to CHANGE THE WORLD forever. Apple by themselves are going to sell a billion of these tablets and the Googles, HPs and Microsofts of the world will sell billions more. Yes, I said BILLIONS. Might as well put up one of those "McDonalds" signs, only instead of billions of hamburgers, it will be billions of tablets.
I have seen the future of computing and the future of computing is with tablets. In ten years, the concept of a "home PC" or even a "laptop" will seem as ancient to us as a VCR seems to us today. The Apple tablet is a revolutionary product and consider how polished it is for a first generation device. Future generations of this product with have capabilities that are sure to stagger the imagination, especially when other major players (other than Apple) get into the game and the race is on to innovate further.
Eventually everybody will own several tablets (that is why I am predicting they will sell in the billions), all of them synced together so whether you use the one at work, in your car or on your back porch, you will have instant access to all your information. You will be able to buy one at the store (most likely in the checkout section of your supermarket) and by the time you get the groceries loaded in your car, your new tablet will be completely synced up with all your other ones. In other words, these tablets will become a commodity item. You drop one on the sidewalk and crack the screen? No big deal, just pick up another one next time you are at Wal-mart or the gas station.
Within our lifetime, buying a new tablet will be no different than picking up a tube of toothpaste at the local CVS and the computing power on one of these will exceed all the computing power that exists in the world today.
I doubt that -- there's no substitute for a proper keyboard if you're writing anything longer than a grocery list.
I think you’re right on the $10 bar for a mass sign up. Netflix has really built a lead here. I have no idea if Apple will come up with a premium service for the high end that finds a niche. Perhaps it will be the hardware/software and integration into all media that it aims for (as it is in its offering now).
As I said, I’m not really the market, and I don’t know except anecdotally how well their current tv offering is doing.
Last time I checked out Hulu, they didn’t have the content - for me anyway. But something like that, perhaps the networks and other content providers will find an internet subscription - or advertising supported like Hulu - model.
Yep on the keyboard. But I think the iPad is a “third computer.” I can’t see anyone other than a really light user having an iPad as their only puter.
Yes, you did.
Adam by Notion Ink has been the talk of all the insiders.
And PS3 for Netflix.
Nope, they're part of the DJIA for a reason - they're now a stable, long-term growth company like XOM or WMT. Consistent profits, very good dividend, stable marketshare. They're no longer a volatile stock, they've become certifiably blue-chip!
Side question: How does Google make money off the Android? Do they get it all from the phone manufacturer, phone service provider, support or..?
I haven’t seen anything on how this works, but I imagine Google has some solid plan in mind. Any idea of the business model there?
Google makes nothing off the sale or use of Android OS - zero. They make some off the Android Market, but where they make most of their money is the same place they make it on the web: search and ad impressions.
Android uses Chrome, has Google Search as its engine, and Google Maps. All use paid-for advertisement, much like Google's own Internet search engine. Having 50+ million phones and devices (and that number increasing by 300,000 per day) showing your ads is a HUGE revenue stream.
Google hasn't deviated at all from their business plan - sell ad impressions. Everything they do is to get more impressions in front of users. Even if that means developing a free OS for use on phones and devices. It's all about ad impressions.
Thankfully, they keep the impressions small and unobtrusive!
There's a reason Apple banned AdMob (Google's ad engine) from the iPhone, and it's not about "safety" or "customer experience" as Jobs and Co. implied. It's about keeping dollars out of Google, and trying to get some for Apple.
To put it all into perspective, Apple made just over $8 billion last year, in net profit, on sales of $42 billion. A reasonable 19% profit margin.
Google made $6.5 billion - nearly as much as Apple - on sales of $26 billion. A very nice 25% profit margin.
Microsoft made $19 billion on sales of $62 billion. A huge 31% profit margin.
Between those three heavyweights, Apple comes up short in the profit margin, and barely beats Google in terms of absolute dollars. And Microsoft still crushes the other two, with revenue nearly equal to the other two combined, and more total profits than the other two combined.
Apple's about to be passed by Google, in terms of absolute profit dollars. My guess is it happens sometime Q1 of 2011, thanks to the steamrolling marketshare of Android. When that happens, you'll see a pretty long and probably steep slide in the share price of AAPL.
I don’t think tablets are ever going to get down to $10, which is what it would have to be to fulfill your toothpaste prophecy.
I doubt the future of computing will ever be primarily tablets. Tablets have a few major issues that will prevent them from becoming function machines, game and amusement machines sure but not function. The screen size is small, they generally have either no keyboard or a very small button style keyboard. Try typing a 30 page document on one of those things. Then of course there’s storage space, the have remarkably little of it. They’re just plain not useful for business, home sure but as business it’s a non-starter.
Why would people need multiple of these things synced together. Their big reason to exist is portability, nobody really needs more than one. Everybody in household might have one but if the things are useful enough to take over the industry nobody would need more than one.
I think you got a lot of pipe dream in there but the basic reality is different. You’re basically predicting they’ll become to the next generation what disposable watches were in the 1980s. But between the cost (it’s never going to be that cheap) and the functionality (they really aren’t that useful) it’ll never happen. These things might replace portable gaming, they might even replace e-readers, they might replace desktops for the “e-mail and internet” crowd, but that’s pretty much the outside limit.
The bigger Apple rumor is an I-TV. Loads of apps to make the TV way cool.
We’ll see if your predictions are correct. I’m not invested anywhere in these companies, about all I care about is a good reliable computer value.
Google could bubble also. I think they are very smart, but in technology businesses there’s always a likelihood of someone smarter around the bend..
Interesting take, but AAPL doesn’t have a dividend; MSFT does (about $0.56 per share). Apple’s had a heck of a price run, but how does lower revenue, lower profits, lower profit margin, lower market share, less cash in the bank, same debt (zero), less total assets, and no dividend equal a higher market cap?
IMHO, it’s exuberance and hope at this point - classic signs of a bubble. I tend to go by the numbers, though, rather than trends or pure potential play. Yes, my stock market investments haven’t had a breakout hit, but they’ve never really suffered, either.
I like my RBS and XOM, nice consistent performers with fat dividends and consistent performance. Low volatility with nice quarterly payouts is what I look for with the bulk of my stock investments...
What percentage of the personal computing business do you think is included in that statement.
My guess is about 90%.
I play very safe as well. But dividends is not the total picture in terms of the value of your investment. You can look at nice quarterly regular checks or you can look at how much your investment has appreciated.
Over the last decade, it seems a player would be better off asset-wise had they gone with Apple over MSFT with the same investment.
But then, this is, for me, a high risk game at my age. I’d probably sell it all today and look for something safer. :)
And for the decade before that, MSFT was the clear winner. Remember, past performance is NOT indicative of future performance! The last two decades for MSFT and AAPL show that...
For predicting the future, I look at hard numbers: profitability, P/E ratio, market share, stability, revenue, dividend. In all those measures, AAPL comes up short compared to MSFT, and not much better than GOOG. To me, it's a much riskier future investment than either MSFT or GOOG.
The last decade may have been better, but it's hard to go back in time and invest over the last decade. I can only invest in the future. And the future doesn't look really stable for AAPL, given the current numbers...
My guess is about 90%.
Personal computers aren't used at all for portable gaming or e-readers. About the ONLY crossover would be with desktops for the "e-mail and internet" crowd.
Portable gaming is the domain of PSP, Nintendo DS, and cell phones. The e-reader market? Kindle, Nook, Sony. Those are where the tablets may make in-roads. Versus traditional computer platforms with dedicated keyboards, it's going to a long, tough slog...
Especially when your tablet doesn't even have arrow keys on its soft keyboard (I'm looking at you, iPad!).
Okay, but I think a lot of people only use their laptop or desk computer for internet and e-mail.
In my household that is all my wife and son use it for. I use many applications - but mostly for my business.
My guess is that tablets will someday eliminate the need for desktop computers for personal use. Businesses will still require the power and accessibility of a regular computer.
Well said! I was skeptical about what an iPad could offer me when I bought mine. It exceeded my expectations. I use it daily, prefer it over my laptop, and rarely use my desktop PC. The iPad travels around the house with me, from the breakfast table, family room, the outdoor deck, workshop, and even out outings away from the home.
I ported over dozens of DVD training videos, pdf reference documents, books, thousands of songs and photos, and have dozens of apps. This, in a first-generation Apple tablet. I salivate at what is coming in future tablets from Apple and other companies.
And the future doesn’t look bright for MSFT IMHO.
Hell, I’d sell them both.
If you can remember the very first iPod product released in 2001 (not even 10 years ago) and compare it to the iPod Touch of today, you will see what I am trying to say. The tablet (iPad) you are looking at today will bear no resemblance and will appear to be primitive when compared to the tablets you will be working with less than 10 years from now.
After the theft of my old 40 GB (hard-drive) MP3 player, over $200 on sale a few years ago, I scored bigtime with a $40 4G Sansa Clip player with a card slot. Add a single 16G card and I have all the music on a much smaller player -- and if I want more I just get a second card.
I can’t see a future where the mass of non-tech savvy internet and media users learn to use - and maintain - a Windows OS box and virus protection, etc.
Whatever the future of that market it will be much safer, easier to use and more reliable for the mass market. If products don’t do this then they miss the point.
If the android tablets do this and maintain a price advantage over the cheap entry level Windows laptops, I think they’re bound to eat into market share quickly.
If the Android tablets come with anywhere near the same vulnerabilities and hassles of Windows, it will take them much longer to beat iPad’s share.
Maybe kids would have it as their only 'puter. But Dad or Mom need a laptop or desktop to sync up the iPad. Just as with an iPod, you need another computer to sync and transfer content to the iPad. Since getting mine, I rarely use the desktop. The laptop gets use mainly to sync up the iPad. And it's two-way. Most of my email from multiple accounts is received and read on my iPad. Also many documents from the internet (yes there are apps for downloading). I'm a heavy computer user, having programmed them since the 1960s, and I have an iPad. As for keyboards, there are several physical keyboard types offered, including Bluetooth wireless keyboards.
Was it a Hyundai?
I forget. But I saw an ad for a new car. And instead of an owners manual, it comes with an IPad.
Not just for the hi tech info on the car, but also for scheduling service and maintenance.
I’m iPad ignorant. Is it possible, once you get your library synced up, to use only the iPad? Can you then download new iTunes and sync your iPod to the iPad iTunes?
Also, some crazy sounding technology is about to come our way. Don't laugh, but keyboards will soon be able to fold up and fit in your shirt pocket. They have also found a way to build a wireless keyboard into a pair of trousers. So get this, you are sitting in your chair with half the keyboard on your left trouser leg and the other half on your right trouser leg. As to where the mouse will be positioned, well let's leave that to the imagination!
Q. Are you playing with yourself?
A. No, I'm just adjusting my mouse!
Less than half. Even the people who do mostly that still tend to do other stuff. If nothing else there’s the ever popular “getting work done at home”, a lot of people bring documents and projects home from work to get it done there. Then of course there’s the gamers, while the PC gaming market has dropped dramatically due to the recent improvements in the consoles it’s still a big market.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.