An Amazon Android Tablet?

Apple gained more ground today in the battle between Android and iOS for mobile device superiority. The announcement of the iPad 2 will allow Apple to continue to dominate the tablet market. Not however for the reasons that many may think.

I am glad to see the new iPad gain the forward and rear facing cameras, the dual core processor and media sharing, but the U/I is dated. The addition of folders in iOS 4 were helpful, but the screen full of icon and having to swipe page after page to find a app, then open it just to get info and poor notifications does not a functional tablet make. The iOS U/I is tolerable for the smaller screened phone, but not for a tablet.

The Honeycomb U/I has a more polished and user friendly feel, but the iPad2 will continue to dominate the tablet realm because no decent hardware manufacturer will release a WiFi only Android tablet for under $500. This and this alone is what is holding Android back in the Tablet arena.

In the phone arena Android has gained a lot of ground, much of this in the US is due to the iPhone being restricted to AT&T. No one had a problem buying an expensive Android phone because it is subsidized by the carriers. Honestly though, how many people need or want a 3G or 4G data plan with a tablet? WiFi is abundant, but all of the decent Android tablets are locked to 2-year agreements in order to make the price reasonable.

So why if Apple can sell a WiFi only tablet for a fair price won’t others? Simple, Apple has an eco-system. If you buy an iPad you are locked to the iTunes store for Apps and somewhat for music and video as well.Motorola, Samsung, HTC will sell you a tablet and it is end of story, there is no more money for them to make from you until you upgrade. This is also the reason I feel that Apple has provided updates for their iOS devices for at least two years after the sale because they are still making money from them. They did abandon the 1^st Gen iPhone and iPod Touch with iOS 4.0 and the 2^nd Gens with iOS 4.3, but Android phones are lucky to see one, possible two OS updates, but not two years of support from the makers because there is not money to be made unless you buy a new phone. Android tablets are new to the market, but I don’t expect the behavior to change.

This brings me to the title of my post, in order for Android to truly meet Apple evenly on the playing field, we need someone with an eco-system. Google has already said that their phones (the Nexus One and S) are primarily for developers, so sadly they will not be our savior. So for the record and I predict that Amazon will release a 7” Android powered tablet this year for $350 and a 10” version for $450. I say this with confidence because they already have an ecosystem in place. The Amazon MP3 store, their video on demand and the forthcoming Android App store, it only makes sense that they could pull this off. Plus they have manufacturing experience with the Kindles. With money to be made from the devices they could ensure that their tablets have a 2 year OS support life which in the long run would make them the de facto choice for consumers.


4/21/11 - Update: http://gdgt.com/discuss/amazons-tablet-coming-but-what-will-it-d07/