iPad 2 Forces Samsung To Reevaluate Galaxy Tab 520
An anonymous reader writes "Apple's iPad competitors are still spec-obsessed, and Apple's next-gen iPad coupled with the same price point is forcing Samsung to rethink its tablet strategy and pricing methodology altogether. The South Korean Yonhap News Agency relays a quote from Lee Don-joo, executive VP of Samsung's mobile division, about Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 compared to the new iPad. 'We will have to improve the parts that are inadequate,' Don-joo said. 'Apple made it very thin.' Features aside, Samsung also finds itself in a bind price-wise. The upcoming Galaxy Tab model, complete with a 10.1-inch screen and Android 3.0, was initially going to be priced higher than the current 7-inch Galaxy Tab. Apple's iPad 2, however, is forcing Samsung to 'think that over.'"
Re:Anyone know... (Score:5, Informative)
No one who knows anything about electronics manufacturing thinks this. The $499 16GB iPad, by all estimations, costs under $250 to manufacture.
Manufacturers love tablets because they are cheaper to manufacture than netbooks (smartphone-type SOC CPU, smaller battery, etc.) yet they sell for more.
This works because tablets are differentiated products, not commodities. Android is going to change that by doing the same thing it did in the smartphone market. Expect to see 10" Android tablets for $300 or less by the end of the year.
Re:Excellent! (Score:4, Informative)
I think what they're getting at is we still haven't seen anything particularly special from tablets. iPads are essentially just large iPhones with an almost identical OS and very few tablet specific features.
The difference is that the much larger screen allows for much richer applications. The minimum size of an interactive element is limited by the size of a finger tip. The minimum size of text is limited by what's easily readable. In both cases there's a lot more that can therefore be put on an iPad screen. And I'm not talking about more application icons on the home app. I'm talking about different UI architecture.
Consider the many apps that involve drilling down through data. e.g. In eMail: Mailbox->List of Emails->Contents of email. On the iPhone, that involves a hierarchy of lists/content to navigate, with each list on a separate screen. On the iPad the experience is more like a PC email app. With different panes for list and content.
OK that's a very pedestrian example, but pretty important because people use email so much.
A more sexy example is Garageband for the iPad. A multi-track recording and editing app. Take a look. The richness of it's UI just would not be possible on a screen the size of an iPhone.