March 20, 2012

So What's Next for Tablet Devices? The Battle for Tablet and Smart Phone Supremacy

So Apple effectively created the popularised tablet expedient store with their original iPad and since then consumers haven't looked back; With the iPad 3 due to be announced and several other manufacturers now producing their own tablets, it would appear that tablets are here to stay.

Of course now, Apple is starting to lose its store share as more price conscious customers are buying into Android and Windows devices, offering similar, if not great functionality for more inexpensive prices. Rather than accept that they cannot keep everyone happy, Apple has instead deigned to sue those competitors that come close sufficient to stealing their more loyal customers; rather than producing a more varied portfolio of tablet devices. Germany is a case in point, just recently a court ruling banned Samsung from selling their 10.1 tablet in Germany and potentially all future iterations of the product line, on the grounds that their expedient is too similar to the iPad. This of course only tells half the story, Apple no ifs ands or buts used doctored photos to enlarge their case, and they won!

It's worth taking a step back and request ourselves, 'who loses here?'




Well Samsung for a start, the 10.1 was considered to be one of the best tablet devices to hit the store this year, and so Samsung stands to lose indispensable revenues in what should have been a good store for them. The consumers in Germany will also lose out, experiencing less choice when compared to their European counterparts. It doesn't stop there though, the tech and machine fanatics as well as bloggers and movable technology news publishers are all bright in online conversations that only carry undertones of negativity; the ruling no ifs ands or buts has not painted Germany in a favourable light, and many view the whole case as Apple 'throwing their toys out of the pram', if they cannot compete fairly, it seems that Apple is willing to sue, cheat and steal to sustain its store foremost position.

With Steve Jobs now gone, is Apple already clutching at straws? Probably not... At least not yet anyway, but as competition intensifies, cases like this will likely become commonplace.

So if all the fuss is about devices that are too similar, how do we overcome this?

Well, Nec, the creators of the world's thinnest smartphone have their own ideas.

They have gone ever so slightly old school, containers their tablet offering with a stand that also acts as a Cd drive, allowing for the use of removable media so as not to clog up the tablet's precious internal memory; it also comes with a keyboard too... Effectively development it a movable workstation for light work tasks:

http://tablet-news.com/2011/09/12/nec-lavie-touch-windows-tablet-brings-old-school-dvd-drive/

Unfortunately for some, this is only to be released in Japan. Other worldwide tablet manufacturers would do well to take note however, the best tablet solutions do not always need the use of the most industrialized and high-priced technologies. The rest of us on the other hand will have to make do with our regular Android and iPad 2 cases.

In the smartphone store however, with the Lg Optimus debuting their most recent glasses free 3D technology, it looks as though tablets will utilise the same technology. Htc already has a tablet set to inaugurate utilising this feature and so it is quite likely that other tablet manufacturers will corollary suit. With the iPad 3 due for publish later this year, they may find themselves at the back of the technology curve if they have to wait an additional one couple of years to implement this technology in the iPad 4. Then again, the technology could always flop and remain the friend of only the most recent Gameboys and 3D Tvs and Monitors.

So What's Next for Tablet Devices? The Battle for Tablet and Smart Phone Supremacy

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