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Why are tech companies wasting resources on tablets?

T

thermal

Member
For about the last ten years, tech companies have been trying to sell tablets/slates, largely without success. Microsoft introduced its 'Tablet PC' in 2001, and numerous other companies like Samsung and Motorola have spent much resources trying to build and market these products.

But with one exception, tablets/slates have proven unpopular over and over again. So why spend a ton of resources on a dead product? I believe Blackberry's work on their failed Playbook took too many resources away from their phone division; a risk that may cost the company its life.

"Honestly, we're not doing very well in the tablet market," Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive for Samsung, said today during a media roundtable here."

Samsung: 'We're not doing very well in the tablet market' | Mobile World Congress - CNET Reviews

Why are Motorola, Samsung, Blackberry, Microsoft etc wasting resources on a product which has historically proven niche at best?
 
Well, as someone who has sunk several hundred dollars into tablets, I kind of agree.
I just picked up my latest, a Transformer Prime with the keyboard and I love it. The speed and the uses I need out of it (basically just social media and web browsing) are excellent. Though, for the price (and other high end tabs like the iPad), you can purchase a full fledged laptop. For folks who can afford these and need them for just media consumption, I think they're great.
Also, I know Windows based tablets are used in the field by many (one of our service companies uses them for invoices and data collection). I don't think they're going anywhere, and we'll see how well Win8 tabs look when they come out.
 
Some of the W8 tablets they showed at CES looked amazing, but again it is the whole why spend the money for it when you can spend the same amount for something better. Other companies are trying to piggyback on Apple's success in making everyone "need" an iPad and other companies want to get a piece of that pie.

I agree with dreadnatty most tablets are devices for media consumption that you can use another device for just as well, I chose to get a kindle fire because it suited specific needs of mine and I got a discount on it, there is no way I could shell out $500+ for a tablet when I know that most of my use would be on my phone or laptop.
 
Yeahha said:
Some of the W8 tablets they showed at CES looked amazing, but again it is the whole why spend the money for it when you can spend the same amount for something better.
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Agreed. The last 12 years have shown that most people see tablets as niche products that, for that same money (or less), you can buy a decent laptop these days.

Windows 8 tablets may be improved, but there just doesn't seem to be a huge market for this product at this time.

And with a hyper-competitive but profitable smartphone market, I feel it may be a better use of resources to put your R&D into this field. Again, spending much $$$ on tablet research did nothing to benefit Blackberry, Motorola etc.
 
That CNet article is only referring to the United States of course.
"That Samsung hasn't met expectations in its tablet business isn't a huge surprise; the company lags well behind Apple's iPad and even Amazon's Kindle Fire in the U.S. market."

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_...very-well-in-the-tablet-market/#ixzz1njMBMI6F
thermal said:
Agreed. The last 12 years have shown that most people see tablets as niche products that, for that same money (or less), you can buy a decent laptop these days.
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Depends on the market I think. In China good laptops can be extremely expensive for many people. On the other hand those $100-$200 USD China Pads are quite affordable. In Hong Kong tablets are very successful.

The other thing is up until about 2 years ago, before Android and iOS devices, many tablets where Windows based, which IMO is not a good tablet OS, clunky and not finger friendly.

thermal said:
Windows 8 tablets may be improved, but there just doesn't seem to be a huge market for this product at this time.
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Might be too late for Microsoft anyway, launching into a market dominated by iOS and Android. Even with the tablet optimised Metro interface and Windows 8 running on low-powered ARM CPUs.

thermal said:
And with a hyper-competitive but profitable smartphone market, I feel it may be a better use of resources to put your R&D into this field. Again, spending much $$$ on tablet research did nothing to benefit Blackberry, Motorola etc.
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A few tablet offerings have been somewhat malformed and ill-conceived, e.g. no e-mail on Playbook, like WTF! RIM? A company that built its whole business on e-mail and messaging devices. There was also the JooJoo, a complete lemon.
 
thermal said:
Why are Motorola, Samsung, Blackberry, Microsoft etc wasting resources on a product which has historically proven niche at best?
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Because Apple has shown people will buy tablets at a high price. And Apple is selling a ton of them. With the iPad3 about to be released, Apple is likely to selling 20 million+ this quarter.

Unfortunately for companies like HP, Motorola and RIM, they believed they could replicate Apple's success. Expensive mistake. If the Windows 8 tablet is not a success, I really believe the tablet market will mimmic the mp3 market.
 
Honestly what the Android community needs to do is quiet simple: Create a tablet that is simple the screen and a shell. Plug your Android powered phone into said tablet and you get DATA to the tablet, and the screen gets optimized for tablets. Considering ICS is optimized for tablets and phones, I could see this working well. Thoughts?
 
Thats said:
Honestly what the Android community needs to do is quiet simple: Create a tablet that is simple the screen and a shell. Plug your Android powered phone into said tablet and you get DATA to the tablet, and the screen gets optimized for tablets. Considering ICS is optimized for tablets and phones, I could see this working well. Thoughts?
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LOL. Did you see this today or something?

Asus Padfone: Turducken of the mobile world (hands on, video) | Mobile World Congress - CNET Reviews
 
Yeah that has been in development for a while. I want to see if it can catch on and not just be a tech toy for a certian group of people that frequent forums about the OS :p I really hope it catches on since I am in agreement with Thats that the next logical step would be a mashup like that
 
Thats said:
No...but THIS is exactly what I was talking about. Perfection.
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I agree. But how much will all of it cost? The Atrix was killed because of the added price of the dock.

But in the end, if it all works together well and doesn't cost a fortune, it could succeed.
 
I don't see it as a total waste. Though i have wanted a tablet for years, this year I am buying one of the Transformer Tabs with keyboard dock due to the fact that Ubuntu Linux will soon become accessible to multicore Android devices. For me, this bridges the gap between smartphone and laptop, in terms of portable entertainment/enterprise. Now I can have my cake (Android) and work (Ubuntu) it, too.

My 2
 
Myself, I'd rather have a laptop than a tablet, but I can see how a tablet could be useful. But I have always envied those who had the touchscreen laptop that had the rotating screen. Always loved those. ;)
 
Why a tablet? Sometimes a laptop is too big, and a phone too small.

The 7" tablet I use for astronomy - I can put it in my eyepiece case and not step on it. I'd have to travel with a table if I used a laptop. It's easier to work with touch on a tablet than a smaller phone screen.

I also use it as an E reader. Since it's Acer, I don't have to bother with B&N or Amazon. There are other sites that sell the same books in epub and not proprietary format.
 
zuben el genub said:
Why a tablet? Sometimes a laptop is too big, and a phone too small.

The 7" tablet I use for astronomy - I can put it in my eyepiece case and not step on it. I'd have to travel with a table if I used a laptop. It's easier to work with touch on a tablet than a smaller phone screen.

I also use it as an E reader. Since it's Acer, I don't have to bother with B&N or Amazon. There are other sites that sell the same books in epub and not proprietary format.
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I believe I read that the Macbook Air is thinner than an iPad 1. And several manufacturers offer laptops that are thinner than the Air. Why carry an iPad when a "better" mobile device is available?

Apple defined the Tablet market and many manufacturers want part of the pie. Some/many will give up or the market will reject them. Especially when Apple releases the next generation iPad. I am guessing it will be much more than the Photoshop BS and fake leaks from fake insiders.

Apple has a way of releasing something amazing.

I read this AM that Apple is now worth half a trillion dollars; their stock price is more than $500.00 per share.
 
9to5cynic said:
Myself, I'd rather have a laptop than a tablet, but I can see how a tablet could be useful. But I have always envied those who had the touchscreen laptop that had the rotating screen. Always loved those. ;)
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I had one. It was ok in school for taking notes, but other than that, once I graduated it was just a clunky laptop as far as my usage is concerned.
 
Bob Maxey said:
I believe I read that the Macbook Air is thinner than an iPad 1. And several manufacturers offer laptops that are thinner than the Air. Why carry an iPad when a "better" mobile device is available?
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Cost could be a consideration. I do believe that Macbook Airs are something like 2 times more expensive than iPads. I'm sure most other similar ultralight/ultraslim laptops carry a significant price premium as well.

Apple US...
iPad 2 from $499.
Macbook Air from $999.
 
Bob Maxey said:
I believe I read that the Macbook Air is thinner than an iPad 1. And several manufacturers offer laptops that are thinner than the Air. Why carry an iPad when a "better" mobile device is available?

Apple defined the Tablet market and many manufacturers want part of the pie. Some/many will give up or the market will reject them. Especially when Apple releases the next generation iPad. I am guessing it will be much more than the Photoshop BS and fake leaks from fake insiders.

Apple has a way of releasing something amazing.

I read this AM that Apple is now worth half a trillion dollars; their stock price is more than $500.00 per share.
Click to expand...

Seven inch size. Not thinness.
 
mikedt said:
Cost could be a consideration. I do believe that Macbook Airs are something like 2 times more expensive than iPads. I'm sure most other similar ultralight/ultraslim laptops carry a significant price premium as well.

Apple US...
iPad 2 from $499.
Macbook Air from $999.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this only reiterates the fact that tablets are for media consumption and not actual data production. The internet is changing how we use computers. Those who work with them all day rely on programs such as Office, Photoshop, etc. When you're at home, it's simply to browse the web, FB, Twitter, watch a couple videos, play some games.
Those devices should cost much less, regardless of size factor. If I had to choose one device to have/carry everywhere, of course it would be a laptop. If I had the luxury and the money to have multiple work devices and leisure devices, I'd go with a laptop for work and tablet for "fun time".
 
dreadnatty08 said:
Yeah, this only reiterates the fact that tablets are for media consumption and not actual data production. The internet is changing how we use computers. Those who work with them all day rely on programs such as Office, Photoshop, etc. When you're at home, it's simply to browse the web, FB, Twitter, watch a couple videos, play some games.
Those devices should cost much less, regardless of size factor. If I had to choose one device to have/carry everywhere, of course it would be a laptop. If I had the luxury and the money to have multiple work devices and leisure devices, I'd go with a laptop for work and tablet for "fun time".
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Actually, this is changing rapidly. Office for the iPad is available via an online suite, but is being released in all its glory as a native app for the ipad shortly. Photoshop Touch was just released for the iPad and I was surprised at how much it can do relative to the PC version. In the medical field I can load up my MRI scans and fully manipulate them with my docs, giving them full access to my CT/MRI/MRV history in full detail. These are just a few of the things out now that makes the iPad a production device.

I no longer consider the iPad a media consumption device. It has evolved passed that, especially if you have it jailbroken, as I do. Is it on par with a PC? No. But it is getting closer. And as these sort of apps come to Android, some may already have, these too will move past media consumption to full production.

I give it 3 years before tablets are fully capable to replace laptops. Just my opinion though.
 
jmartino5920 said:
I don't see it as a total waste. Though i have wanted a tablet for years, this year I am buying one of the Transformer Tabs with keyboard dock due to the fact that Ubuntu Linux will soon become accessible to multicore Android devices. For me, this bridges the gap between smartphone and laptop, in terms of portable entertainment/enterprise. Now I can have my cake (Android) and work (Ubuntu) it, too.

My 2
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