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What happens in households with both an iPad and an Android tablet? One stays, one goes

Friday, May 27, 2011 · 1:58 pm · 50 Comments

Matt Rosoff reports for The Business Insider, “Citi analyst Walter Pritchard tells a funny story: ‘Anecdotally, we purchased both an iPad 2 and Xoom recently and spent the last four weeks using the device[s] at home. The iPad has lived up to all the hype with the wife and kids nearly fighting over who gets to play with the device. In this short time, the Xoom acquired the name “Dad’s iPad” and sat mostly idle. Our experience suggests it is mostly clunky software and lack of quality control in applications from the Android app store has turned users in our household off. The Xoom was boxed up and sent back to Amazon earlier this week.’

Rosoff reports, “He’s not alone: I had the same experience with an iPad 2 I got to test a few weeks ago and the Android-powered Galaxy Tab Google gave away at I/O earlier this month.”

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Comment Feed

50 Comments

kirkgray

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:02 pm · Reply

but… but… androids have flash! Flash!! you can’t win against Flash
- Spade
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:28 pm · Reply
  
  You have to wonder how much longer companies like RIM and Google will continue to try trumpeting Flash, when it’s abundantly clear that it does nothing to make people want to buy tablets with their platform. Heck, even when given away for free at Google I/O, nobody wants these pretend iPads!
  
  Between this, and all the negative reviews Flash-on-a-tablet has been getting, Adobe’s got to be sweating quite badly at this point.
  - Ansel
    
    Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:09 pm · Reply
    
    Spade …. question …..
    
    Do you really think Adobe is listening and if they are, do they understand?
    - kirkgray
      
      Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:15 pm · Reply
      
      Adobe is (like Microsoft) perpetually just one release from Flash nirvana. They see the next release swooping in and destroying iPad, iPhone, iPod, and all things Apple. So no, they’re not sweating badly at this point. They’re blissfully delusional.
    - dijonaise
      
      Friday, May 27, 2011 - 7:43 pm · Reply
      
      Oh they get it! Big time. I have been down to Adobe Labs now several times to do customer research. I am a graphic designer that has an ipad and they were VERY interested in everything I want to do with it. I would almost say their scared $hitless of the implications of this paradigm shift.
      They are on extreme fire drill mode right now thinking of a way to save their collective jobs.
- jim
  
  Saturday, May 28, 2011 - 9:50 am · Reply
  
  Optimus Prime : One shall stand, one shall fall
  - MBBM
    
    Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 2:15 pm · Reply
    
    me likey…..
    - MBBM
      
      Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 2:17 pm · Reply
      
      i think Optimus might be an Apple product……… iPrime…
- MBBM
  
  Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 2:13 pm · Reply
  
  People refuse to believe that Flash is the lifeline of any device expecting to make it in the smart device world…..which is why we’re all going to hell on Oct 22nd………. Flash will save our souls!!!!!!
krquet

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:05 pm · Reply

Oh good, for a second there, I thought that maybe the wifey gave the boot to…
I mean, the headline…otherwise, is this really newsworthy? Poorer product gets replaced by superior product that undergoes some extra mileage too.
- Bizlaw
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:13 pm · Reply
  
  “Poorer product gets replaced by superior product that undergoes some extra mileage too”
  
  Are you talking about the wife or the iPad?
  - forrestforrestgump
    
    Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:20 pm · Reply
    
    Both, I think…
LynnW

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:21 pm · Reply

I’m a wife who loves her iPad just as much the MBP. I use the iPad because it serves it purpose very well and tend to use it more now. Husband has a Toshiba laptop and iPad. Now hear this he uses the crappy laptop more than his iPad for both work and pleasure. Shall I trade him in for a newer model?
- bluefinpro
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:25 pm · Reply
  
  Yes. Get the iPad 2 and a new husband. You deserve someone with good taste
  - LynnW
    
    Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:32 pm · Reply
    
    We both ihave iPad 2′s. Guess I’ll have to wait for iPad 3!
- Ballmer's left nut
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:32 pm · Reply
  
  Kick his f*^#ing sorry ass out of the house! Mating a Toshiba laptop with a iPad is just not right. It’s like…I hate to say this…having sex with monkey boy Ballmer. See where I’m going with this?
  - LynnW
    
    Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:45 pm · Reply
    
    Sure do and I always get a kick out of your responses. He does have an iPhone 4 and has had all gens of those and loves it. Give him credit for that! I’m sorry to say I do get a kick when his windows crash and he behaves like a raving maniac. I sit smiling and then he goes off the wall again yelling “oh you and your Macs’!
    Masochist he is.
    
    like a raving lunatic. Swearing
    - John Crawford
      
      Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:17 pm · Reply
      
      Macsochist?
      - MichaelT
        
        Friday, May 27, 2011 - 4:30 pm · Reply
        
        Microchist.
- papasmack
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 4:27 pm · Reply
  
  Oh Lynn….. Toshiba??? Oh no no no no ….. Windows is bad enough but windows on a Toshiba machine is like eating a poop sandwich on stale bread. I dont know how he can go from using an iPad 2 to a Toshiba laptop, since every one of those I have ever used feels like its about to fall apart and on a few occasions I have broken the screen bezel just from handling them. It must be a laptop provided for him by the company.
- Applesmack
  
  Saturday, May 28, 2011 - 3:59 am · Reply
  
  Absolutely!
whatever

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:39 pm · Reply

What the hell were they thinking with that Xoom headphone jack placement? center top? Freaking strange
- Ballmer's left nut
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 2:45 pm · Reply
  
  After being trepanned by the mongoloids in Google by forcing a half finished beta copy of Android on the Xoom there wasn’t much brain power left to make rational decisions.
Bream Rockmetteller

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:00 pm · Reply

THe problem is that it’s not a valid experiment. To validate any Android tablet you may only compare it to other Android tablets. In the household that’s never seen an iPad, would the Xoom get returned? Have them compare it to a Galaxy Tab. Which one gets returned then? The above experiment is like taking a 60″ 1080p plasma TV back to 1968 and comparing it to the Zenith B&W TV with the 10″ round CRT. Which one gets rejected?
- Ballmer's left nut
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:04 pm · Reply
  
  A household who’s never seen an iPad must live under a rock and therefore deserves a Xoom. Case closed.
- RevDrX
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 5:09 pm · Reply
  
  So you should only ever compare the Xoom (heard a radio commercial pronounce it “ex-oom) to lesser Android devices, not the industry leader?
  That’s like saying “this is only crap next to anything that not crap”
  - Bream Rockmetteller
    
    Friday, May 27, 2011 - 7:08 pm · Reply
    
    Exactly! It’s like that recent laptop that claimed to be the thinnest laptop ever but only compared it to massive bricks not to a MacBook Air.
Pirate4now

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:12 pm · Reply

from Adobes point of view Flash isn’t a major part of their business and over all I do like their products, Flash just seems to be the forgotten child.
And so far I have run into one playbook who kept telling me that whatever wasn’t working well would be fixed “in the next update” he is a Mac hater so whatever.
Ive also run into one Xoom but it as since been returned and a iPad 2 ordered.
And one galaxy tab but it only dated a week before the owner told me it was “too small” and the software sucked. He also order an iPad.
So my small cross section of humanity supports what we all suspect. Given a choice people want iPads not knock offs.
- Ballmer's left nut
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:22 pm · Reply
  
  I suspect the Apple hater & Playbook keeper likes to wear his socks inside out & brushes his teeth once a week or so to maintain his anti-social habits to a high pitch.
Richie

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:15 pm · Reply

I went into a ‘cell phone’ company with my iPad the other day, no real reason to take it other than I didn’t want to leave it in the car while looking at new service contracts. Anyway, the girl behind the counter noticed I had the iPad tucked under my arm as actually said, “Bet you wish you didn’t buy that Apple junk.” She then pulled out her Xoom and told me how superior the Xoom was to my iPad- and that she could go to sites using flash and I couldn’t. I played with her and said that I had not seen anyone actually willing to pay money for the Xoom and would be interested in having her show me it- which she did. She proceeded to turn it on, then turned it on again, then one more time… button seems to be sticking…. Once on, she said, “let me show you the web the way it should be.” The view was actually quite nice, nothing out of the ordinary though. Then came the wonderful moment with flash. She opened a site and it was taking way longer than normal to open… “it will be just a second, it’s loading the flash intro.” 1 minute went by and we just chatted. 2 minutes later- “hmmm, let me re-load.” Chat some more and showed off the different things I had on my iPad. “Oh, here we go” the site finally came up. real nice, but just looked static. So I asked, is that it?. “No, it’s got some neat flash content, it will start soon.” I showed her some photos I took from camping, and opened the “apple trash App Store” to show her how buying an ap was so easy. Oh, web site is now moving, slowly, but moving now. Great, looks, well, slow. “See, isn’t the Xoom great?” she said. Then the best part- the girl at the window beside us blurted out, “He’s showed you his photos, a ap purchase, logged into apples web site, and your Xoom just now started to play 1 web site- doesn’t boad well for Xoom to stick around if they can’t even keep up.” I Can’t argue.
- Ballmer's left nut
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:26 pm · Reply
  
  I suspect the AT&T Xoom lady prefers spending time watching paint dry in her house rather than going on vacation.
- whatever
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:28 pm · Reply
  
  But it has Flash – LOL that is the only argument?
- chew
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:36 pm · Reply
  
  “Bet you wish you didn’t buy that Apple junk.” She then pulled out her Xoom and told me how superior the Xoom was to my iPad- and that she could go to sites using flash and I couldn’t.
  
  If she did said that to me I`d publicly declare her and idiot and unfit even for a golden shower.
danuff1

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:30 pm · Reply

HMMM… Our family has the same setup, and the Xoom gets used just AS MUCH AS the iPad 2. So, don’t believe everything you read.
- Ballmer's left nut
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:34 pm · Reply
  
  I suspect the member of your family hogging the Xoom prefers doing his/her laundry by hand rather than use the washing machine. Inflicting pain seems to be a genetic trait.
- MichaelT
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 4:34 pm · Reply
  
  Okay. I choose not to believe your story.
- Brau
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 5:23 pm · Reply
  
  The journalist’s kids wouldn’t pander to his product bias to win affection … would they? Kids never do things like that.
diskgrinder

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:35 pm · Reply

but it goes up to eleven
- Widerwake
  
  Saturday, May 28, 2011 - 12:19 am · Reply
  
  LOL
mdmac

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 3:45 pm · Reply

Android…we can’t even give ‘em away…
ob1spyker

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 5:31 pm · Reply

Wife bought a Xoom when it first came out. After playing with it I convinced her to take it back to Best Buy and I’d wait on line to get an iPad 2 on launch day. Since launch day, not a day has gone by that the iPad 2 hasn’t gotten heavy use. I would go as far to say that we have already gotten our moneys worth for what we paid for the iPad 2. That could never be said of the Xoom. We also have an iPad 1, which is mine, that still ran circles around the Xoom. Unless you are just an Apple hater, there really isn’t a justifiable reason to purchase an Android tablet over an iPad.
daugav369pils

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 5:32 pm · Reply

Xoom? What kind of name is that? Remember when
we found out Apple’s new tablet would be named the
iPad and all the funny jokes we had about that name?
- midwestmac
  
  Friday, May 27, 2011 - 5:42 pm · Reply
  
  Look at the inconceivable “Droid Does” commercials and you’ll see that a name completely devoid of meaning or connections to the real world fits in nicely with the whole motif they’ve got going.
  
  Creepy robot arms touching poorly constructed touch screens and the word “Xoom” kind of go hand in hand, not?
- Dmitri
  
  Saturday, May 28, 2011 - 12:26 am · Reply
  
  yes, all the funny, funny jokes, as morons snickered about the word “pad.” Also funny: how none of those jokes ever get made about other tablets with “pad” in their names. MAN that was idiotic.
vsp

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 7:31 pm · Reply

Xoom
Doom
ignorante

Sunday, May 29, 2011 - 11:07 am · Reply

The thing is if current android tablets are not good, 3 or 4 manufacturers will release others that may be better. They are competing and trying to make better products than the rest.
In general Apple products only talk to other Apple products and generally are targeted at richer people. That is a disadvantage for many.
jecastej

Monday, May 30, 2011 - 11:01 am · Reply

ignorante

I don’t see any problem with some other company creating a better product than the iPad. The thing is there is no one product out there better than the iPad in the user experience and as a general porpoise device. Hopefully in the future some options may compete well and even surpass the iPad(…?)

There is nothing more expensive than wasting your money on something your end up not really wanting to use. So the first thing is knowing what your are buying and that is the user responsibility. Even if you are expending less than a hundred.

Second in the $500 tablet market there is no better device than the iPad. But also there is no better device in the $450 and less and not in the $600-700. That leaves the iPad as the only real option. And that is not Apple fault.
http

Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 3:25 am · Reply

That was a truly great piece of writing!!!
hello

Thursday, November 3, 2011 - 11:16 am · Reply

You’re indeed correct on this one…
nikon d5100

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 - 11:29 am · Reply

You’r truly correct on this one…