Tag: tablets

Samsung has launched yet another Galaxy Crap tablet, the Galaxy Crap 2. This one is similar to the Galaxy Crap 7.0 that was launched recently but has worse hardware and better software. It’s the first Galaxy Crap to come with Android 4.0. 

So why is Samsung launching so many crappy 7-inch Android tablets suddenly? The answer is simple. Samsung, like every other Android tablet manufacturer, is having a hard time selling its bigger tablets. The iPad is completely dominating that segment and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to go down any time soon. Even the upcoming Windows 8 for tablets will try and eventually fizzle out, just like its smartphone counterpart. I’m not being a fanboy here; just being realistic. iPad has an incredible momentum to it, which is going to be impossible to stop. But more importantly, the iPad has mindshare, which means people can only think of iPads when they think of tablets. People don’t know of any other tablet. They don’t want to and honestly, they don’t need to. The iPad with its excellent hardware, OS and collection of software and accessories, is as close to tablet nirvana as can be imagined. 

So what’s an Android manufacturer to do in such a situation? Sell cheap tablets, of course, like Amazon does. But for someone like Samsung, matching Amazon’s price will be impossible, because Samsung does not have an online store to make up for the losses like Amazon. In fact Amazon itself is not able to make up for its losses on the Kindle Fire through its store. So the only option Samsung has is sell stripped down tablets which are as cheap as possible. Not Kindle Fire cheap but cheaper than the iPad at least. 

Of course, this tactic isn’t going to last for long. It is speculated that when Apple launches the iPad 3 next month, they will continue to sell the iPad 2 at a lower price. Looking at what they have done with the iPhone for the past three years, it’s extremely likely that this will turn out to be true. If it does, Apple will not only put the final nail in the Android tablet’s coffin, but will also bury it in the ground and then pee on the grave. 

One thing is clear, though. If you are a tablet maker who is not Apple, your life sucks. Just like your products.