4 ms·

Google’s Nexus tablet may push Android partners out of the picture

26 points by zacharye 15y ago

untog 15y ago
If they do it, then the Android partners have no-one but themselves to blame. Had they stepped up and made a device that people wanted then there wouldn't be any need, but just like with the Nexus range of phones, it seems that Google needs to drag their partners kicking and screaming into making devices that customers actually want. Mind boggling.
- stanleydrew 15y ago
  Totally agree. Given the state of the Android tablet market I would be disappointed if Google weren't planning something like this.
- bitwize 15y ago
  People want the iPad. It's a little difficult for Samsung to make iPads.
  - gcb 15y ago
    That mentality, in Samsung, is exactly what makes Samsung suck
  - untog 15y ago
    Couldn't you say the same about the iPhone? People wanted the iPhone. Plenty of people now want, and are very happy with, Android phones. The same hasn't been the case for tablets because the Android manufacturers haven't made anything worth wanting. The iPad can be competed with, even if it's only on price.
    - r00fus 15y ago
      Which could easily be explained by the fact that Android stole a whole lot of iPhone's OS, and Samsung (the biggest Android seller) steals a lot of Apple's hardware design. Face it, if Androids selling today looked like they did in 2007 (which is to say, a lot like a Palm, Blackberry or Nokia smartphone) they would NOT be doing so well.
      - vetinari 15y ago
        Could you please stop propagating the myth, that android stole anything from ios? Thank you.
      - untog 15y ago
        And presumably Apple came up with the iOS5 notification design without so much as looking at Android? A quote from John Carmack comes to mind: "Patents are usually discussed in the context of someone "stealing" an idea from the long suffering lone inventor that devoted his life to creating this one brilliant idea, blah blah blah. But in the majority of cases in software, patents effect independent invention," Carmack wrote on Slashdot, "Get a dozen sharp programmers together, give them all a hard problem to work on, and a bunch of them will come up with solutions that would probably be patentable, and be similar enough that the first programmer to file the patent could sue the others for patent infringement." There is often one, single "best" solution to a problem. Someone else might have already done it, but what are you going to do- deliberately make your experience worse? Every phone manufacturer has borrowed at least something from another, it's the nature of the beast.
saturdaysaint 15y ago
edit It's worth mentioning that the linked article is itself speculation/extrapolation on a Digitimes rumor. Questionable. /edit Google has some difficult questions ahead if Amazon starts making phones. It's questionable if anyone else can justify selling devices like these below cost - and even if anyone else could, Amazon has the most prominent storefront and a more complete content ecosystem.
- fluidcruft 15y ago
  Personally, after my experience with Android, I am completely uninterested in investing in an Android tablet. A Windows 8 tablet on the other hand with Microsoft actually in control of the software (which is what I understand they are doing) -- even if it only has a web brower, office and dropbox, I'm so there. Plus from what I understand Microsoft is making their App store free-software friendly, so maybe even emacs (smearmacs!) and latex.
extension 15y ago
If there's currently no market, then nobody has anything to lose by letting Google try to create one. The iPad is already pushing them out of the picture, but if the iPad didn't exist then there would be no picture out of which to be pushed.
Goronmon 15y ago
>Who would purchase a $500 Samsung tablet when $199 will get you a slate “of the highest quality” that will also be the first such device to receive new software updates as they become available? Someone who didn't want a basic 7" tablet? That's like wondering who would ever purchase a $1k laptop when $250 netbooks exist.
- stanleydrew 15y ago
  I think the idea is that the new tablet would be higher quality. So the question seems valid: who would pay more for an inferior product?
  - danmaz74 15y ago
    There is nothing I miss from my Transformer, quality wise... (or otherwise, actually :)
cube13 15y ago
If this is true, it will be more of a shot at Amazon than Apple. The Kindle Fire is an Amazon table that runs Android on the backed, not an Android tablet with Amazon features. Also, I'm honestly not sure if Google can actually sell an iPad(or even close to iPad) quality tablet for $200. Amazon was able to create a very good tablet with the Kindle Fire, but they have the content ecosystem(as well as the public used to giving them money directly) to support selling the device for a loss. Google is attempting to get that ecosystem, but they aren't there yet(and the public isn't generally used to paying Google for anything). I can see $300 for the new tablet(Amazon reportedly loses $50 per Kindle Fire), but not $200.
- ajross 15y ago
  I think this is exactly it. The fact that the only manufacturer able to turn Android into a success on the tablet is a competitor doing an unlicensed/unbranded clone must be deeply embarrassing. The Fire really is a nice device at a fantastic price.
jdost 15y ago
From what I have heard, from contacts in the mobile hardware industry, Motorola is not currently working on a Google tablet, at least not one out in the next 3 months. I don't think that Google is going to push the other hardware partners out of the scene just yet.
dannyr 15y ago
"It has already been widely discussed that an own-brand tablet from Google would likely cannibalize its Android partners’ tablet sales, though there isn’t much to cannibalize at this point." This statement has no basis and contrary to what happened with Android phones when Google launched the Nexus Line.
padobson 15y ago
If no one makes a popular Android tablet, then why do I have to wait 4-7 weeks for my ASUS Transformer Prime? http://www.amazon.com/Transformer-TF201-C1-CG-10-1-Inch-Tablet-Champagne/dp/B0067PLOW0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325790556&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Transformer-TF201-C1-CG-10-1-Inch-Tabl... The hardware innovation that Android enables in the tablet market is going to prove to be one of the best things to happen to portable computing. The Tegra 3 would not have happened without Android around. http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-superchip.html http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-superchip.html

26 points by zacharye 15y ago

untog 15y ago

If they do it, then the Android partners have no-one but themselves to blame. Had they stepped up and made a device that people wanted then there wouldn't be any need, but just like with the Nexus range of phones, it seems that Google needs to drag their partners kicking and screaming into making devices that customers actually want. Mind boggling.

stanleydrew 15y ago
Totally agree. Given the state of the Android tablet market I would be disappointed if Google weren't planning something like this.
bitwize 15y ago
People want the iPad. It's a little difficult for Samsung to make iPads.
- gcb 15y ago
  That mentality, in Samsung, is exactly what makes Samsung suck
- untog 15y ago
  Couldn't you say the same about the iPhone? People wanted the iPhone. Plenty of people now want, and are very happy with, Android phones. The same hasn't been the case for tablets because the Android manufacturers haven't made anything worth wanting. The iPad can be competed with, even if it's only on price.
  - r00fus 15y ago
    Which could easily be explained by the fact that Android stole a whole lot of iPhone's OS, and Samsung (the biggest Android seller) steals a lot of Apple's hardware design. Face it, if Androids selling today looked like they did in 2007 (which is to say, a lot like a Palm, Blackberry or Nokia smartphone) they would NOT be doing so well.
    - vetinari 15y ago
      Could you please stop propagating the myth, that android stole anything from ios? Thank you.
    - untog 15y ago
      And presumably Apple came up with the iOS5 notification design without so much as looking at Android? A quote from John Carmack comes to mind: "Patents are usually discussed in the context of someone "stealing" an idea from the long suffering lone inventor that devoted his life to creating this one brilliant idea, blah blah blah. But in the majority of cases in software, patents effect independent invention," Carmack wrote on Slashdot, "Get a dozen sharp programmers together, give them all a hard problem to work on, and a bunch of them will come up with solutions that would probably be patentable, and be similar enough that the first programmer to file the patent could sue the others for patent infringement." There is often one, single "best" solution to a problem. Someone else might have already done it, but what are you going to do- deliberately make your experience worse? Every phone manufacturer has borrowed at least something from another, it's the nature of the beast.

saturdaysaint 15y ago

edit It's worth mentioning that the linked article is itself speculation/extrapolation on a Digitimes rumor. Questionable. /edit Google has some difficult questions ahead if Amazon starts making phones. It's questionable if anyone else can justify selling devices like these below cost - and even if anyone else could, Amazon has the most prominent storefront and a more complete content ecosystem.

fluidcruft 15y ago
Personally, after my experience with Android, I am completely uninterested in investing in an Android tablet. A Windows 8 tablet on the other hand with Microsoft actually in control of the software (which is what I understand they are doing) -- even if it only has a web brower, office and dropbox, I'm so there. Plus from what I understand Microsoft is making their App store free-software friendly, so maybe even emacs (smearmacs!) and latex.

extension 15y ago

If there's currently no market, then nobody has anything to lose by letting Google try to create one. The iPad is already pushing them out of the picture, but if the iPad didn't exist then there would be no picture out of which to be pushed.

Goronmon 15y ago

>Who would purchase a $500 Samsung tablet when $199 will get you a slate “of the highest quality” that will also be the first such device to receive new software updates as they become available? Someone who didn't want a basic 7" tablet? That's like wondering who would ever purchase a $1k laptop when $250 netbooks exist.

stanleydrew 15y ago
I think the idea is that the new tablet would be higher quality. So the question seems valid: who would pay more for an inferior product?
- danmaz74 15y ago
  There is nothing I miss from my Transformer, quality wise... (or otherwise, actually :)

cube13 15y ago

If this is true, it will be more of a shot at Amazon than Apple. The Kindle Fire is an Amazon table that runs Android on the backed, not an Android tablet with Amazon features. Also, I'm honestly not sure if Google can actually sell an iPad(or even close to iPad) quality tablet for $200. Amazon was able to create a very good tablet with the Kindle Fire, but they have the content ecosystem(as well as the public used to giving them money directly) to support selling the device for a loss. Google is attempting to get that ecosystem, but they aren't there yet(and the public isn't generally used to paying Google for anything). I can see $300 for the new tablet(Amazon reportedly loses $50 per Kindle Fire), but not $200.

ajross 15y ago
I think this is exactly it. The fact that the only manufacturer able to turn Android into a success on the tablet is a competitor doing an unlicensed/unbranded clone must be deeply embarrassing. The Fire really is a nice device at a fantastic price.

jdost 15y ago

From what I have heard, from contacts in the mobile hardware industry, Motorola is not currently working on a Google tablet, at least not one out in the next 3 months. I don't think that Google is going to push the other hardware partners out of the scene just yet.

dannyr 15y ago

"It has already been widely discussed that an own-brand tablet from Google would likely cannibalize its Android partners’ tablet sales, though there isn’t much to cannibalize at this point." This statement has no basis and contrary to what happened with Android phones when Google launched the Nexus Line.

padobson 15y ago

If no one makes a popular Android tablet, then why do I have to wait 4-7 weeks for my ASUS Transformer Prime? http://www.amazon.com/Transformer-TF201-C1-CG-10-1-Inch-Tablet-Champagne/dp/B0067PLOW0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325790556&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Transformer-TF201-C1-CG-10-1-Inch-Tabl... The hardware innovation that Android enables in the tablet market is going to prove to be one of the best things to happen to portable computing. The Tegra 3 would not have happened without Android around. http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-superchip.html http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-superchip.html