Now that I’m sold on the concept of tablets, I’m actually starting to find the whole Tablet Wars situation currently going on rather fascinating. Despite owning the iPad right now, I’m certainly a fan of competition and would most certainly consider getting a different brand/OS on a tablet in future. Sad reality though, is that all the options right now have good things going for them, but also have a considerable amount of flaws as well that I think prevent them from gaining a lot of traction. Let me go over the current situation as I see it right now
Blackberry:
Strengths: When I watched the liveblog and the articles explaining and detailing the Playbook, a lot of really interesting things came out of it. Tying it to a Blackberry phone made perfect sense, as did allowing tethering between the phone and the tablet to share the data plan is something Apple will probably never do, mainly due to contractual obligations to AT&T I can only assume. Video out on the device is a perfect option for business presentations as well as for a multimedia option for consumers. Hardware specs on the device (1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM) certainly trump the iPad, and will hopefully handle multitasking like a breeze. Dual-cameras are nice for those that need it, although I don’t understand the need for a rear one personally (Taking pictures with a device that large is going to be awkward), and having all the various Adobe products is certainly good for those that actually want Flash on a mobile device.
Weaknesses: RIM has a long road ahead of them towards launch, and they’re going to be fighting two major things in my mind. For starters, the Playbook is running an entirely new OS, which means that they’re starting fresh from an application standpoint. There is AIR support, but I imagine that applications will need to be at least mildly rewritten in order for them to work their best on the device. On the positive side of it, getting rid of the developer fees to get into the market is a great incentive for developers to code applications for all the various Blackberry devices, which is always a plus. Secondly, with the device still as far away as it is (Expected launch is Q2 2011) they’re going to be competing against the still-unknown “iPad 2″. Apple will more than likely add dual-cameras along with a gyroscope as well to get it more on par with the current iPhone. With this early announcement from RIM, Apple has a chance to play catch-up and take some of the features from the Playbook for themselves.
Read the full article for my take on Apple, Google, and Microsoft’s tablet strategies
If any of you remember, a while back I criticized Microsoft’s lack of a tablet strategy. With the market for tablets increasing at such a dramatic rate, Microsoft was looking to be two steps behind as usual with their push to use either Windows 7, a desktop OS not designed for tablets, or to use Windows 7 Embedded, which no one has had experience for nor really seen anything from. Both of those options were terrible, and made you wonder if Microsoft would ever successfully enter the market. However, over the past couple of weeks, I’m starting to think that Microsoft has an ace up their sleeve. Read More »