Monday, September 26, 2011

iOS Vs Android? -- Tablet wars

From the reports far and wide, looks like iOS through iPad is winning hands down in the tablet wars. It is now more than 2 years since the first iPad and there is still not a single worthy tablet to give iOS a stiff competition in the tablet landscape. Though Android seems to be the staple OS in all these tablets, none of these match the user experience focussed iPad, not a single company could dent Apple's march into the living room, not Samsung, not RIM nor HP. There have been tablets from startups like Fusion Grid but can they survive in this intense competition? I think the fight is so intense that they have to really provide a totally out of the world-magic feature to capture the public's imagination. Well, with so many existing 'also-runs' in this race, it is being speculated Amazon is coming up with a low end Kindle tablet and this is touted to give iPad a run for its money.

An interesting observation, there are only two major OSs in the market and one continues to dominate the user's imagination while the other OS (Android), so easily customizable and open, is still not gaining market traction. Is this a marketing gimmick that Apple is able to promote their products better and able to convince the users that it is a far better choice than any other tablet? Even the tech pundits laud the iPad when reviewing any other tablet and Apple's tablet seem to be the benchmark for any new tablet that is into the market. Should we say a company which does its own hardware and software fare better in understanding the user preferences than disparate segments in the industry assembling components to present the user with a gadget?

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