I don't see the same reasons as applying there though. Android gained in the mobile market primarily because Apple chose to select preferred suppliers amongst the carriers in each territory. People weren't going to go with an iPhone if it meant hobbling themselves with a network without adequate local coverage, and those sales gave Android the impetus in order to mature and attract developers.

With tablets the lack of phone coverage doesn't worry a large section of the userbase, since they buy the wi-fi models, and in the meantime Apple have abandoned their exclusive contracts policy and opened up the iPad to more carriers.

So I don't see the lawsuits as a delaying tactic, rather a desire to force Android to change the way it works in the hope that it becomes sufficiently different for the users that they see iOS as closer to how they expect their phone to work. Apple hope that come next upgrade time a lot of those users could switch as a result.

Your point about the apple choosing preferred suppliers is true. I dont think that was the only reason why they lost the phone market. It was certainly one reason.

I dont think Apple will get Android to change. Well change enough that it makes a difference. They may get android to make tweaks or make minor changes. Android certainly wont make major changes. If Apple want to differentiate then why are they copying features from Android (the notification system and widgets)? Surely this is bring them closer to Android? The other point about about minor tweaks to android. Give it a month or two and some developer will release an app that will copy that feature, and thus put it back in. It would take Apple quite a while to get it banned. I the meantime a few thousand people have downloaded it.

This then begs the question, why arent google going after Apple for copying the notification system and widgets?

Tablet market ≠ smartphone market.

If anything, it's more like the MP3 player market. Apple pretty much created it, and it totally and utterly dominates it.

Apple doesn't need to slow down the sales of Android tablets (& other non-Apple tablets), as they're already ridiculously p***-poor compared to sales of the iPad.


I don't know why Apple is using these stupid bully-boy tactics with its patent suits etc., but I can't see it being because Apple is worried about the tablet market, as it currently has nothing to worry about.


Talked about it in another thread recently.

Did they copy those from Android? I thought Apple ripped them off from WebOS

I think apple are worried. I read a while back, that Android has already taken around 20% of the tablet market from Apple. If that doesnt worry Apple I am not sure what will.

Those figures arent p***-poor as you put it. Give it a couple of more years, and Android will dominate the tablet market as well.

Unlikely, IMO.

Apple has it sewn up, and as mentioned, it is not at all like the smartphone market.

Apple created this market (which some say is still effectively an iPad market not a tablet market), plus the way people buy them is different.

Most smartphones are probably bought subsidised on a contract.

Not so with tablets. Most people pay full price for them.

That there removes one advantage Android has in the smartphone market (cheaper devices of equivalent spec.), because the high end Android (& non-Apple) tablets, the ones of equivalent spec. to the iPad 2, all cost the same or near enough the same as the iPad 2. And the figures suggest that most tablet consumers don't want to pay the same price as an iPad for something which isn't an iPad.


The high-end Android (& other non-Apple) tablets simply do not sell. Certainly not anywhere near as much as the iPad.

9.25 million iPads in one quarter vs. 440,000 Xooms vs. 200,000 PlayBooks (with 500,000 PlayBooks in the previous quarter). I'd call that p***-poor...

The high-end tablet competition needs to be cheaper. Competition isn't competition if if doesn't compete.

Roll-on Amazon... Not high-end, but may carve out a nice mid-range niche.

Cheaper yes absolutely, but I think it goes hand in hand with consumers needing to be made aware that Apple is not the be all and end all. I think Apple is so ingrained into the gadget loving public consciousness that rival products have no chance. In reality, I much, much prefer my Galaxy Tab to a colleagues iPad for instance, but that is me.

Apple had the smartphone market all sewn up. Then Android came along, took it away from Apple. The same will happen with the tablet market. You can look at individual tablets and say they are low in comparison. However the overall android tablet sales are on the up. Like I said earlier, around 20% is not a small chunk of the tablet market. In a couple of years time, I would be very surprised if Android doesnt have over 50%.

I do agree that android tablet manufacturers do need to make their flag-shop models cheaper. Especially as they are trying to get a foothold. Once they have, then they can charge higher prices.

Did Apple ever have the smartphone market sewn up in the same way it has the tablet market sewn up? I don't believe so.

Its starting position in each market was totally different.

It created the tablet market, and still dominates it.

With smartphones, it jumped into an existing market, up against Nokia & RIM etc.

I don't think that Apple *ever* had e.g. 80% of the smartphone market...

Just because Android dominates the smartphone market does not automatically mean that it will come to dominate the tablet market. They are not the same... Different starting shares, different primary sale models, different kinds of devices.


As for the smartphone market... even though Android does dominate compared to iOS (hardly a surprise, given that only one company makes iOS phones and tonnes make Android phones it would be strange if Android phones didn't outsell iOS phones...) Apple is actually still the "worldwide number one single manufacturer of smartphones by revenue, profit, and volume".

Nonsense. People did and Apple only did that with the 2G before Android came on the market.


Well in that case, apple better drop the notification drop down menu ripped from Android then eh?

Apple have had every single patent dropped apart from one which relates to the way photos are looked at on phones. The remaining lawsuits are indeed apple trying to delay things as they know fine the galaxy tablet is much better than the ipad2. Apple are a vile, dirty and manipulative company.

Apple never had the smartphone market sewn up. I don't think they've ever had upwards of 30% market share.

Not nonsense at all. Apple fudging around with single carrier exclusives meant that other networks marketed Android handsets to their customers as the alternative. That gave the Android platform the kickstart it needed to attract developers, and it's grown from there.

Also, the 3Gs was available by the time Apple started to open up to multiple networks per territory.

Exactly.

How is the Tab 10.1 "much better" than the iPad 2?

Same CPU as the iPad 2 (ARM Cortex-A9), inferior GPU to the iPad 2 (GeForce ULP instead of a PowerVR SGX543), more RAM than the iPad 2 (1GB instead of 512MB), and fewer apps...

I know the Android users here are keen on specs. How does that make it "much better"?

Why would Apple be worried about that, when all other tablets launched at the same price as the iPad 2 have failed? [Including the Xoom, which has the same specs as the Tab 10.1 but doesn't look as nice]

Fewer apps dedicated to the platform yes, but the device is backwards compatible. Probably wont be pretty, but there you go. I am sure some duff app where you get to make farting noises will work just as well.

Same with the iPad, though.

Normal iOS apps which work on the iPad but aren't optimised for it, plus iPad-specific apps which are optimised for it. Just like normal Android apps will work on an Android tablet, in addition to there being tablet-specific Honeycomb apps. ... Although there are more iOS and iPad apps than there are Android and Honeycomb.

Oh that fact is indisputable I agree, but take away the chaff, how much wheat is left? I can pop into the Android market and I could find everything I needed there if I was to upgrade to a 10.1 from my 7. Of course it depends on the user and all needs are different.

Indeed. It boils down to what you want from the device, and as we talked about in that other thread the user experience itself is important. Some prefer iOS, some prefer Android.

Fewer rubbish apps you mean? I cant find one useful app that i used on my iphone that isnt on Android. Perhaps you can.


Simply because it uses a much nicer OS. That's my opinion however but apple must be worried about something.


Haha! Of course they are worried! There is absolutely no other reason apple are suing Samsung. Apple even lied about the tablet looking the same http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14542200

If thats not running scared, you tell me what it is.

Fewer Honeycomb apps than iPad apps.

Fewer Android apps than iOS apps.


Yes, it's your opinion...

Given that the specs (something you previously said are important) are so comparable, it seems rather subjective to be saying that the Tab 10.1 is "much better" purely based on your own opinion of the OS being "much nicer". And I certainly doubt that Apple will "know fine the galaxy tablet is much better than the ipad2" if the only important difference is the OS. I doubt that Apple thinks that Honeycomb is "much nicer", and it's hardly something to worry about...



Running scared of what? Worried about what?

None of the "competition" has actually shown any signs of being capable of competing.

Why worry, why "run scared", if every tablet released at the same price as the iPad 2 has failed to make any kind of impact whatsoever?


I *do* think that Apple's tactics are wrong, and that this whole patent suit thing is a ridiculous p***-take, but I cannot see any reason for Apple to be worried or scared. Not by the Tab 10.1, not by any other current non-Apple tablet.

For goodness sake! Yes, they have so far failed to make an impact. You think that's going to last do you? Why do you think apple lied about the tablet looking the same? Why? Heres the link again just incase you missed it http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14542200

It stinks of apple being worried about competition.

The iPhone 5 looks good

Does it?

Where? Apple haven't even announced it yet.....

Not for long, if they haven't already been passed.

free android apps overtook free iphone apps back in April...

http://www.techspot.com/news/43568-g...es-iphone.html

and according to that article, they anticipated the number of apps (free and paid) in Android Market would overtake the App store....well about now....

I don't know why, but I can't see it being due to "worry about competition", because at the moment there is no competition.

Yes, I think that the complete failure of non-Apple tablets to make an impact will last, unless they start seriously undercutting Apple. Most people are simply not interested in non-Apple tablets priced the same as the iPad 2. Bringing out similarly specced tablets for the same price quite clearly does not work...

As I said before, the tablet market is not the same as the smartphone market. Android's dominance of the smartphone market means nothing regarding the tablet market.

Unless the Android (& other non-IOS) tablet manufacturers start bringing out decent tablets at lower price points, price points low enough to actually entice people, the tablet market will continue to be more like the MP3 player market: Totally dominated by Apple.

I don't want that - I want competition. It's best for the consumer. It's best for the market. Prices would improve, features would improve, etc. But so far there is no competition!... And I see nothing that will change that.


Fair enough, I didn't know that. Do you have numbers for Honeycomb apps?

Well, taking the thread back to its original topic we should know next Tuesday (Oct 4th). Apple have confirmed the date and sent out press invitations.

http://www.loopinsight.com/2011/09/2...ent-for-oct-4/