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How low in prices do iPad competitors have to go to compete?

I had a friend who purchased some bootleg tablet from China at $80. Single core processor, some other crap, even ran some pirated version of android! :confused: Needless to say, all the programs lagged as hell and the touchscreen was super-unresponsive. On the plus side, it excelled as an ebook reader, and for that price, I suppose it is a steal.

To me, it doesn't matter, because those who still want an ipad 2 will get one regardless of the price because of the unmatchable experience it offers. Apple understands this, which is why they never get suckered in price wars.
 
The kindle and nook color compete right now. They're making money for their companies, and are quite different from the iPad for people who want something easier to carry around, or use out in the sunshine.
 
The Fact Is

aneftp said:
Apparently the new HP/Palm TouchPad is already being marked down by over $100 less than weeks after it's launch. Now it's less than $400.

Add the anemic sales of the vast majority of tablets.

At what price point will consumers start buying other tablets strictly on value?

Right now, it's estimated that the tablet manufacturing costs range from $300-350 per device (screen, memory, etc).

So $400 has got to be a razor thin margin for HP to be selling their tablet when you factor in labor plus advertising costs.

I know technology prices always go down in prices and maybe next year it may cost cost less than $250 to make a device. But apparently there are very few buyers out there for these discounted iPad competitors.
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That none of the currently available Android based devices compete with the iPad or the iPhone.

Friends of mine "In the know" reckon that Android is a good two years behind IOS, and that that gap is likely to remain for some time to come.

Other Tablet manufacturers can discount all they want, but the fact is....The iPad is king.
 
actually, in the us today, the hp tablet is apparently as low as 299 at staples. that is incredibly cheap (in my opinion), even given the questions i have about buying a non-apple tablet (see post above).

but, i am not interested. i have better things to do with my 300, and i don't have a burning need for two tablets (wouldn't hurt for reading and research).

so, if even a 299 tablet doesn't tempt me, i doubt any thing will. until the software side of things improves, i don't see them as a viable option (for me) at any price.
 
Obviously, competitors have to price their products below $500, but it's more than just price. The quality of the product has to be several times better than the iPad. And when I say "quality," I mean the whole package.

Competitors shouldn't expect something like Flash to be the "killer feature" in their products. While Flash is certainly a very important consideration and selling point, it should not be THE selling point of the product. For example, RIM threw its entire PlayBook marketing muscle behind Flash. They talked up Flash heavily. While Flash integration in the PlayBook has been very well-received, the consensus is that the PlayBook needs more than that.

I think hardware-software integration is key to putting out a good product. Microsoft or Google should acquire a company with hardware know-how and shut down the licensing program altogether. They both have massive cash hoards and can easily utilize Apple's aggressive supply chain management tactics.
 
Clearly the iPad still succeeds and a huge reason is the accessory market that has grown around it. As much as I hate proprietary ports, Apple keeping that dock port pretty much the same over the years has ensured hardware developers that any accessory they (license) then create for iDevices can have a life beyond one season.

I see a trend away from any dock advantage though, and once that happens all tablets will have access to the same peripherals. Bluetooth connects a slew of devices to any tablet with bluetooth, and now that almost every electronic device comes with WiFi the dock advantage fades even farther from being the killer reason to buy one over the other. My Samsung tablet's Touchwiz update brought wifi-sync with its desktop Kies application. I've got table space for pocket devices around my PC to keep them plugged in while transfering media to them. The tablets are a little harder to find room for. My Samsung Tab was in the living room on the sofa while I transferred music and videos to it from my PC in the home office. Then I enjoyed playing movies (even web content) from the Tab directly to my LG smart TV over WiFi. No HDMI/USB/etc. cable required, and the 9 to 10 hour battery life (wifi-on) many come with lets them run all day no power cable either. I'm assuming I could do the same thing with my iPad2 if I had an AppleTV box in the mix.
 
I am not an Apple fan... I simply buy products that make my life easier. If the touchpad, for $400, could work as smoothly as an iPad, give me all the luxuries if not more, and replace my computer completely then I would get that. Other than that, iPad is the device to have as it does what it does well and only gets better.
 
dulaney22 said:
They are going to compete. Price really doesn't matter, it's just a time thing. Android is distancing itself from the iOS every day. Prognosticators said that wouldn't happen, but look now. Same thing will happen with tablets. I owned an iPad . . . it's boring. Most folks with them like the product, but think it's boring. As new features and upgrades come out . . . coupled with Apple sitting around twiddling its thumbs . . . more and more folks will pick the latest and greatest, especially at a cheaper price.
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I am not sure how "Android is dsitancing itself blah blah"! Android used it's widespread availability on multiple carriers and cheap, subsidized devices to establish it's market share. They don't enjoy that advantage in the tablet market. Further, developers are more motivated toward Apple than Android.

Most people don't give a crap about about the geek-a-zoid features of Android that makes techies orgasmic.

I have yet to see long lines at any product launch of an Android device, phone or tablet!
 
62tele said:
I am not sure how "Android is dsitancing itself blah blah"! Android used it's widespread availability on multiple carriers and cheap, subsidized devices to establish it's market share. They don't enjoy that advantage in the tablet market. Further, developers are more motivated toward Apple than Android.

Most people don't give a crap about about the geek-a-zoid features of Android that makes techies orgasmic.

I have yet to see long lines at any product launch of an Android device, phone or tablet!
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Exactly. My dad has a Samsung Galaxy tablet (the 7 inch one) and was hoping to get the Galaxy 10.1 when its released in the UK. I went ahead and got him an iPad 2 and he loves it. In some ways he prefers the Samsung (Flash, and the ability to download youtube videos for some reason...) but he also said there's just something about the iPad that is a lot better than the Samsung or the other Android tablets he's tried. Its not whats on paper, its how its all put together and I totally agree with him on that. I've tried the iPad and its a great device, he wants to get me the 10.1 tablet now but I'm not sure - it has better specs, but I don't think it'll trump the iPad in terms of enjoyment. I asked him which tablet he'd keep if he could only have one, and he said the iPad, by far.
 
In my opinion, the way a non-Apple tablet can compete is to offer something the iPad can't do or do nearly as well. And I don't mean half-baked implementations of Flash or "superior" specs like mega-pixels and 0.2 ghz.

Of the current tablets, only the Nook and Kindles are offering a product with a clear focus that can really distance themselves from the iPad. Everything else is an iPad competitor (aka iPad clone).

With the iPad having a distinct mindshare advantage, tablets like the Xoom, Playbook, Galaxy Tab, and Touchpad need to have dramatic advantages, which they really don't. So price is irrelevant, unless of course they are more expensive than an iPad.

Here's the deal, these tablets need to be $200 less than an iPad when they're introduced. Not 2 months after the intro. Consumers aren't dumb. They can sniff out a product that's about to be discontinued and wiped from the OEM's matrix. If the Touchpad had been introduced at $300 (or maybe $350), then I think they'd get a lot of traction. But at $500, consumers ask themselves, "why get the HP and not just the iPad?"

Right now, I would not recommend to any of my less tech-savvy friends or family a purchase of a Touchpad, Xoom, Galaxy or Playbook. The ones that are out in the stores are being discounted so as to clear them off the shelves. Whether the OEMs intend to replace them with newer editions is a really good question. (just surmising, I would think that Moto is done with tablets; HP has one more shot; Samsung will probably try one or two more iterations; and RIM is done)

For the current Android and WebOS tablets out there, it doesn't matter how low the price drops. It's irrelevant and they'll only be bought by folks that were balking at the $500 entry price and perhaps some folks that haven't done their research. Don't count on the replacements from the OEMs to be priced this low. They're losing $$$ at the $300-$400 price.

ft
 
1. The tablet market could either go the route of the pc market; where in 20 years iPads only have a 15% market share, but they make 40%-ish of the total profits in the category. 2. The tablet market could go the route of the mp3 player marker; where apple created the market and crushed any competition (zune? Galaxy player?).

I think the tablet market will be like the mp3 player market, unless google forces manufacturers to use a standard version of android with no mods (a la windows to an extent). The market is too heavily reliant on developers for software and developers don't want to develop and iOS version, and then 5 or 6 android versions, plus a windows phone version, and an rim version. Most app developers aren't big name software companies with big time resources. Skype is a good example in the phone market of a company that won't support every android model ever produced. Skype video calling is only supported on 5 or 6 android phones, out of maybe 30 phones that are video capable. Say what your want about their app development strategy, or lack there of. Unfortunately, many developers think just like they do. They don't see the value in developing their app multiple times for the same base operating system, because the device manufacture all want to be a little be different. If android were like windows, android developers could develop 1 app, not 5 or 6.

Android and HP just don't have the ecosystem maturity that iOS has. That is what's drawing people to iPads. People know when they buy and iPad, that there will be a crap load of apps, magazines, books, movies, music, and other things to use. android is more of a collection of manufacturers selling devices with no ties to the device once it's sold. They're selling hardware and the think that if they have the best hardware, then the software will just fall into place. Unfortunately for them, that is not happening.

I looked at a samsung galaxy tab 10.1 and it looks great. I might even buy one if the prices drops to 299 or so. While I was playing with it, I couldn't help but think about the apps I use on my iPad. Are they even available on android, and are they available for this specific device? I don't want to drop even $150 and find out that half of the apps I want to use don't even work on my model.
 
I would put the number at $199 to really cut in to iPad sales. If Amazon can offer a tablet with unlimited free 3G (even if throttled) I would see it being popular at a slightly higher price.
 
Cheaper tablets will definitely open up more market, but as far as I can see, to some extent the current tablet market is almost like the console market and that's the difficulty for the competitors.

Let's suppose there's a new game machine with decent hardware but without many games made for it. On the other hand the game console is "open" and lets you run the emulators and install homebrew apps. Would there be a big market for it regardless of the price? Probably not. There'll be the techies who'll praise its capacity but most people will wonder why they should buy one at all.

It's conceivable tablets can become a (almost) necessity item for people by taking over PCs, but right now they aren't. And if you're looking to replace the PCs, you really need the quality apps regardless. I guess if all wants to do is a simply email and webbrowsing, the tablet would be appealing under $300. But it'll be hard to make quality large (~10") tablets hitting price point. And even though Nook seems to be selling well, it's not selling anywhere near iPad quantity despite it's very low price.

On a related note I find smaller 7" tablets to be a different animal from iPad just as iPod Touch is different from 7" tablets. They serve different purpose so it's hard to compare them to iPad. But in the long run, I personally doubt the 7" tablets will be that big of a market with the smartphones getting better. There'll be a niche for them just as there were the niche for 5" PMPs but compared to bigger tablets and smaller pocketable devices, they will struggle to penetrate market in a large scale, IMHO. Maybe they can be the Kindle replacement if they get really cheap but the quality will be an issue.
 
tigres said:
I don't think price is a driving factor of this market. Ease of use, build quality, and reputation is what Apple will continue to win this war with.

See staples add this week? 399 for the HP tab 16gb. Is there a line?
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A line? They sold out at every Staples in about 9 seconds, haha.
 
tigres said:
I don't think price is a driving factor of this market. Ease of use, build quality, and reputation is what Apple will continue to win this war with.

See staples add this week? 399 for the HP tab 16gb. Is there a line?
Click to expand...

Add in the Staples $100 coupon to go with the $100 HP rebate and the 16GB total price is $299. As of this morning, there wasn't a 16GB Touchpad to be found in Central Texas.
 
tstarks33 said:
A line? They sold out at every Staples in about 9 seconds, haha.
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mkruck said:
Add in the Staples $100 coupon to go with the $100 HP rebate and the 16GB total price is $299. As of this morning, there wasn't a 16GB Touchpad to be found in Central Texas.
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I wonder what the motivation was for HP to drop the price? They can't be making money at $400 a pop. Perhaps they want to drive the installed user base numbers up to entice developers to make apps.

My feeling is that this price isn't sustainable for HP at the moment. They're taking a wild swing here. Not sure if they're connecting or not.

Anyways, my guess is that they'll make one more attempt at the tablet market and have a Touchpad 2, but more than likely, that'll be the last one they make.
 
Lagmonster said:
I would put the number at $199 to really cut in to iPad sales. If Amazon can offer a tablet with unlimited free 3G (even if throttled) I would see it being popular at a slightly higher price.
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I am the OP and usually wouldn't resurrect an old post of mine if no activity for a week.

But with HP's firesale of the Touchpad this weekend.

I guess $99/149 is the going of the tablet business price that finally can compete with the ipad.

Of course HP is taking a 100 million USD loss in this firesale.

So the real answer is that companies really can't compete with the ipad unless they sale for a loss. That's something companies can't afford to do unless they are leaving the tablet business altogether.

I did end up getting a $149 HP 32GB touchpad and letting my 14 month old use it around the house and in car entertainment.
 
Hp touchpad is a steal at 99 dollars.

I would pay 199 dollars for

HP touchpad and Galaxy Tab 10.1

Personally, I passed on HP touchpad because it was too heavy for me to hold compare to Galaxy Tab and iPad 2.

I will be buying Galaxy tab 10.1 at some point in the future, but the lowest price I have seen with this tablet was 399 dollars. I am hoping that Samsung will offer different promotion than this TV+Free galaxy Tab in the future.


Bestbuy pressured HP to take these tablets back.

I am sure Bestbuy will ask Samsung to do same thing in the future. Bestbuy has tons of Galaxy Tabs doing just nothing.

I can see Galaxy Tab 10.1 go below 399 dollars near future.
 
hcho3 said:
Hp touchpad is a steal at 99 dollars.

I would pay 199 dollars for

HP touchpad and Galaxy Tab 10.1

Personally, I passed on HP touchpad because it was too heavy for me to hold compare to Galaxy Tab and iPad 2.

I will be buying Galaxy tab 10.1 at some point in the future, but the lowest price I have seen with this tablet was 399 dollars. I am hoping that Samsung will offer different promotion than this TV+Free galaxy Tab in the future.


Bestbuy pressured HP to take these tablets back.

I am sure Bestbuy will ask Samsung to do same thing in the future. Bestbuy has tons of Galaxy Tabs doing just nothing.

I can see Galaxy Tab 10.1 go below 399 dollars near future.
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hp was supposed to take them back because they discontinued the line of touchpads
 
For me, it's not the price that I'm concerned about. If I can afford an Apple iPad for $500, I'm sure no one else would want to go beyond that price mark.

My issue is the OS eco-system. If someone can come up with something as partially fleshed as Apple's App Store and has a competing OS like the iOS, I'd be more than happy to switch.

The issue is, webOS, Honeycomb, etc is just not well refined.
 
n8236 said:
For me, it's not the price that I'm concerned about. If I can afford an Apple iPad for $500, I'm sure no one else would want to go beyond that price mark.

My issue is the OS eco-system. If someone can come up with something as partially fleshed as Apple's App Store and has a competing OS like the iOS, I'd be more than happy to switch.

The issue is, webOS, Honeycomb, etc is just not well refined.
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You gotta remember that 80% of average customers just surf the internet and do email and maybe facebook these days. Facebook can easily done within any mobile web browser these days.

majority of people do not need apps. The built in apps of many tablets (email internet calender photos) do the job.

I own an iPad but the Touchpad for that price this weekend is a no brainer.
 
Cell phone carriers have determined that the magical price point for smartphones is $200. ($199 actually.) Going above that point requires one of two features (a) it's an iPhone or (b) it provides 4GE support. The former is worth about $100 and the latter about $50.

Based on that model, my guess is that a non-iPad tablet ceiling is about $400 or slightly less with the same features as the iPad.

That's a tough nut to crack given the materials and design of the iPad. Manufacturing costs alone put the price of other tablets at that level or above. The other option, of course, is to provide features and/or functionality the iPad does not at a similar price point. The Lenovo ThinkPad tablet may accomplish that with business users. It is scheduled to be released on August 23 and is expected to support a larger, denser screen, an optional Lenovo keyboard/tablet case, comprehensive usb supprt, and a pressure sensitive touch screen with a built in stylus. The price is competitive with the iPad.

Otherwise, I'm guessing that the best strategy would be to produce a smaller tablet, say 7", at about $300. It won't be an iPad killer but it could appeal to a number of niche markets.
 
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