Here Comes the Competition

[DUTCH VanAtlanta]

Blackberry Playbook. See here:

BlackBerry - Smartphone - Smart Phone at BlackBerry.com

Multitasking, Flash enabled, tethering, two cameras and more. Sure looks interesting!

 

[wrecklass]

Well at least the original rumors about the name of the device were wrong.

I don't think they are going to attract any big developers to the platform. Right now everyone is betting on Apple or Google. Microsoft and RIM (Blackberry) will be competing for third place.

 

[Sonny Burnett]

All other competitors have problems.

Microsoft - Windows is too power hungry to run on today's tablet CPUs

Android - There will be too many tablets running this OS, what is going to distinguish one from the other?

RIM - ???

HP- While the Web OS is a true competitor to iOS the device it lacks a diverse eco system.

 

[IGonz]

Blackberry Playbook. See here:

BlackBerry - Smartphone - Smart Phone at BlackBerry.com

Multitasking, Flash enabled, tethering, two cameras and more. Sure looks interesting!

Here we go again.
Another tablet maker leaving out the battery life info in the specs.
I did find that it's removable.

The iPad had the battery info in the specs before it even came out.
I'm spoiled with this 10-12 hour battery.
Battery life is usually the first thing I look for in the specs. with any portable device.

 

[Alanfujii]

I'm still convinced that what people are going to find is that the 7inch screen is too small. if you have an iPhone it's not that much different. One thing that I find interesting with the Blackberry ads is that they start off showing a different sized tablet. I think it might be their "Blackpad" that is more scaled to the iPad. The subsequent slides then show a more rectangular unit which is probably the Playbook. They seemed to shy away from showing a full web site display since I know it will not be able to.
There will be some people that will want that size but it will be awkward since they will want it to do more of the functions a phone will do. Samsung was faced with that problem so they put phone features in their Tab. The problem is it isn't a phone and if you try to use it as a phone it will fail. The iPad's size provides enough separation from their iPhone. If Apple is smart they will keep it that way for example. If they put a camera in iPad then there is only need for a front facing camera that will allow their Facetime to work. An outward facing camera will be hampered by they usability in trying to take pictures holding a picture frame sized device.

 

[iVan]

What companies will do to garner interest in their stock.

Was this an attempt to prevent people from going Apple's way? Is there substance behind those fabricated images?

At least Apple has the right recipe. Develop a product under the highest secrecy possible, schedule an event and show the full product with a delivery date... so what if it's late...

 

[wrecklass]

Actually for many people the big benefit to Android is the fact that there are numerous vendors and lots of choices.

The situation is almost exactly the same as the OS desktop wars of the 80's and 90's. Apple is once again playing the part of their OS on their hardware with limited, but quality choices.

Google is now the Microsoft of the mobile world. Lots of hardware choices and they are drawing lots of developers to the platform. What's more, they are upgrading the system at a very rapid pace and have already caught up with Apple for market share.

I suspect we are going to see the same shakeout. This time it will be Google as the number 1, Apple happily in number 2 with those who love their top notch user experience, and MS, HP, RIM, and the rest vying for the remainder of the market.

 

[DUTCH VanAtlanta]

I suspect we are going to see the same shakeout. This time it will be Google as the number 1, Apple happily in number 2 with those who love their top notch user experience, and MS, HP, RIM, and the rest vying for the remainder of the market.

HP and MS have dropped their plans for a tablet.

 

[MattIM]

HP recently bought Palm

HP and MS have dropped their plans for a tablet.

So it would be a bad investment on HP's part to abandon plans for their own tablet. I was hoping to see what HP could do with a tablet. HP via Compaq, was an innovator in mobile computing. They were one of the first PC companies to offer portable computing.

 

[donka]

HP and MS have dropped their plans for a tablet.

I believe HP have only dropped their plans for a Windows powered tablet.

 

[pallentx]

HP and MS have dropped their plans for a tablet.

I believe HP have only dropped their plans for a Windows powered tablet.

actually, more recently, they have denied dropping those plans. The last thing I saw, they were still planning a WebOS consumer-oriented tablet and a Windows 7 Enterprise/business-oriented tablet.

 

[Alanfujii]

Actually for many people the big benefit to Android is the fact that there are numerous vendors and lots of choices.

The situation is almost exactly the same as the OS desktop wars of the 80's and 90's. Apple is once again playing the part of their OS on their hardware with limited, but quality choices.

I agree Wrecklass that multiple vendors will provide a long term benefit because competition is always good for the consumer. The problem that I predict will happen in these early stages of this new platform is that the multitude of various companies producing "me too" tablets is that it will cause confusion in the marketplace. One potential problem for Android systems is the need for companies to differentiate themselves will cause them to develop proprietary features that will hurt the evolution of the OS. I'm not familiar with the android phones but I use the Windows mobile as a model. What initially was a very powerful OS became hampered by trying to spread it's use over various hardware platforms that it became very generic. Your going to have a lot of misses before there becomes some stability. Hopefully, the platform doesn't get ruined in the process. (I.e. UMPC etc)

 

[wrecklass]

One potential problem for Android systems is the need for companies to differentiate themselves will cause them to develop proprietary features that will hurt the evolution of the OS. I'm not familiar with the android phones but I use the Windows mobile as a model. What initially was a very powerful OS became hampered by trying to spread it's use over various hardware platforms that it became very generic. Your going to have a lot of misses before there becomes some stability. Hopefully, the platform doesn't get ruined in the process. (I.e. UMPC etc)

I don't believe it will. HTC Sense and stock Android UI are becoming the defacto standard. Most of the cheap devices rely on the stock interface which is quite good. Sense is also very good.

Android 3 (Gingerbread) will be all about improving the standard UI. I think that while some of the devices will be crap, just like some PCs are, the consumer choices available will make the platform thrive.

 

[Wakawaka]

I'm up for some healthy competition.

Think about it, when ford came out with their first vehicle, flat black pickup that's all there was. Now you have thousands of vehicle choices to fit the needs of buyers. I need an suv for my dog. My girl needs a car for mpg to get to work.

Same with cellphones. Remember them brick phones? Then nokias. Now choice. I got the iPhone because I'm an office guy. My construction crew can't have an iPhone because it won't last. But drop their nextel 5 stories and "beepbeep" it still works.

I'm not going to degrade another companies effort to get into the market with their product. If I like it, and it fits my needs I'll buy it. I'd rather have choices than one solution.

I picked the iPad over the tablet pc because of size an battery power. I gave up memory and freedom for size, battery, and simplicity.

The blackberry does look good though. I'm sure a little better and virus free from the hp slate