“Google Inc. plans to unveil a $199 tablet co-branded with Tawian’s Asustek Computer Inc. at its developers conference this week, taking direct aim at Apple Inc.’s iPad, according to two people familiar with the matter,” Brian Womack, Tim Culpan and Ian King report for Bloomberg.
“The 7-inch tablet running Android mobile software will be shown at the Google I/O conference, starting today in San Francisco, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private,” Womack, Culpan and King report. “The device will also showcase new features of Android, according to one person, who said the latest version of the software is named Jellybean.”
Womack, Culpan and King report, “Android tablets are already available from companies such as Samsung Electronics Co., HTC Corp. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which Google acquired last month for $12.5 billion. Still, Google is aiming to capitalize on its own brand name. It also seeks to woo consumers with a slimmer device that features the latest software yet carries a lower price than the larger iPad. The newest versions of Apple’s tablet start at $499.”
MacDailyNews Take: Enough silliness. Let’s listen to the guy who invented the device that all others are trying and failing to copy:
One naturally thinks that a 7-inch screen would offer 70% of the benefits of a 10-inch screen. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. The screen measurements are diagonal, so that a 7-inch screen is only 45% as large as iPad’s 10-inch screen. You heard me right: Just 45% as large.
If you take an iPad an hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on these 7-inch tablets are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the ipad’s display. This size isn’t sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion. While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size.
Apple has done extensive user testing on touch interfaces over many years and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touchscreen before users cannot reliably tap, flick, or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps… The 7-inch tablets are tweeners. Too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad.
These are among the reasons we think the current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA. Dead On Arrival. Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their tablets are too small and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both customers and developers who jumped on the 7-inch bandwagon with an orphaned product.
Sounds like lots of fun ahead. – Steve Jobs, October 18, 2010
Womack, Culpan and King report, “‘When you look at the tablet market, you have iPad — and others,’ said Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at industry researcher IHS iSuppli. ‘Everybody is trying to figure out how to compete against the iPad. And I just see it as just one more experiment going down that road.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A tiny screen $199 Fragmandroid tablet isn’t “taking aim” at Apple’s iPad, it’s shooting at Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Flop, er.. Fire.
Related articles:
Apple’s revolutionary iPad widens lead as tablet sales surge – June 15, 2012
Apple’s massive domination of tablet market unabated as Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire demand tumbles – June 5, 2012
Apple’s iPad remains dominant in Q112 while Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire fizzles – June 4, 2012
Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire shipments have dropped off a cliff – May 9, 2012
Amazon’s Kindle Fire shipments fizzle to anemic 4% market share – May 4, 2012
“Take Aim at Apple’s iPad” … maybe it will it hit the table leg and no higher!
We are evidently a war-like people. Everything is a battle, with “Killers” and losers, especially in capitalism. Comedians “kill,” entertainers “blow the roof off the place,” success is “kicking ass,” and we either die, pee, or come in our pants when happy. We f*** the s*** out of someone. And let’s not even Think about sports…
Oh, right, Sports, where we get to see Tim Tebow whine to the refs because they won’t give him an extra five seconds in the huddle while he strikes his trademarked “Power Prayer Pose” to ask some old bearded guy in the sky to send his next pass successfully into the hands of his receiver. Then he gets sacked.
old bearded guy in the sky? Um, no. That’s not what it says in the bible either.
Many ‘Christians’ will shit themselves when they find out that God is an old black woman.
God is a spirit. The creator of all spirits. Even you have one.
If you believe you can conceive god, you’ve missed the point.
I’ve always liked the line from “Inherit the Wind” (attributed to the accused by his girlfriend who was on the stand):
“God created man and man returned the favor.”
Which definition of conceive were you going for:
con·ceive (kn-sv)
v. con·ceived, con·ceiv·ing, con·ceives
v.tr.
1. To become pregnant with (offspring).
2. To form or develop in the mind; devise: conceive a plan to increase profits.
3. To apprehend mentally; understand: couldn’t conceive the meaning of that sentence.
4. To be of the opinion that; think: didn’t conceive such a tragedy could occur.
5. To begin or originate in a specific way: a political movement conceived in the ferment of the 1960s.
v.intr.
1. To form or hold an idea: Ancient peoples conceived of the earth as flat.
2. To become pregnant.
iPad is my choice for reading MDN ….. I also love It for maps and email and photos, videos and the list goes on ….. And ya know what I can type on this about or better than regular keyboard.
Swing and a miss!
There’s no Marquess of Queensberry Rules in high tech!
That was a good one (coming from a boxer, myself).
“Sounds like lots of fun ahead… especially since we’re currently working on an iPad mini. Once it’s finished and released, I expect you to completely disregard my comments today, just as when I trashed the idea of video on an iPod.”
The first first MDN take is a bullseye, if the company cares about quality and user experience. If a company *cough google* doesn’t give a fsk then all bets are off.
Remember who Gaagles customers are, not the consumer.
Gaagles customers are a. people that want/need to peddle their stuff (not necessarily a bad thing) b. Third rate OEMs that are on a merry-go-round race to the bottom.
If you remember who Gaagle’s customers really are, coming out with a shite, cheap azz 7″ slate makes perfect sense (I guess).
“Tawian’s Asustek “, so google just stated samsung in the back and now they don’t even trust motorola to do that crappy tablet?
Wow I hadn’t noticed that. Hillarious.
Really? If you take aim at the iPad then aim for the iPad. Build at least a 9.7 inch screen and comparable software. Building a 7 inch screen is aiming at the iPod Touch. Analyst really need to make decent comparisons. Will they now compare a 11 inch Netbook to MacBook Pro Laptop with a title like Netbooks by X to aim at the MacBook Pro.
Crap articles to appease the Gods of War.
Aren’t they always taking an AIM at apples iPad? I mean how many iPad Killers NOTS have we seen so far?
If its decent ill grab one or two for some interface projects. I’d rather use an ipad for my own personal needs
What’s an interface project?
I’ve been toying with the idea of using cheap tablets as touch screen interfaces for some older industrial equipment.
Basically bringing a modern and easy interface to allow easier control and extend the usability of the equipment.
I see dismemberments, fires and lawsuits in your future. I wouldnt trust android to make my coffee correctly.
I see a lack of knowledge in your present.
Its embedded linux at the end of the day and you already rely on it daily even if you do not know it.
Where’s “Tawian”?
Would that be Shania Tawian?
Near Maniland Cihna.
HEY GANG ! lets take a bad idea and RUN WITH IT!
Typical Bloomburg garbage, they make it sound like Googles competing with Apple and have no clue that a 10″ screen size with retina is going to compare to a 7″ non retina with googles OS.
Anytime they can put Apple’s name in the mix they know it draws readers even if it has nothing to do with Apple.
As others have said, this is going after Kindel Fire not the iPad.
As with all things Google, user experience will be subordinated to the commercial interests of advertisers. Advertisers are mainly concerned with eyeballs and click through and not on fluidity of the UI. All this will do is eat away at the Amazon Kindle Fire user base and leave the iPad user base unaffected. In fact rather than turning out to be an iPad killer, it may turn out to be an iPad resuscitator in the sense that it will boost the fortunes of the 7.85″ iPad mini when it is launched from the refugees fleeing the Android small form factor tablet space.
Amazon Kindle Fire user base? They still have one?
“…….taking direct aim at Apple Inc.’s iPad,………the 7-inch tablet……”
So they are aiming for thin air as Apple Inc. doesn’t have a 7-inch iPad.
It’s pretty obvious that if you’re aiming to take on iPad, pitting a 7″ screen against iPad’s 10″ screen means that you’re not actually taking on iPad.
However, if you’re looking to enter the tablet market, a smaller and cheaper product might be the only realistic opportunity. The problem with that approach is that Kindles are being sold at a loss, while high quality iPads are manufactured efficiently and priced aggressively.
It’s going to be difficult to find a price point where you can sell at a profit, but still offer better value than a Kindle while significantly undercutting iPad.
Another device that won’t be upgradable when Google comes up with a new mobile OS.
That depends.
If they treat it like the Nexus and run stock android on it then it should receive android updates straight from Google.
Lets be real this thing will be a total geek toy. Its not going to gain traction with normal users and it won’t even put a scratch on iPad sales.
… But it may actually be Android upgradable. Imagine that. Wow. Google might be catching up with the 20th Century. Dangerous. 😉
Wait, it is cobranded Asus? What about all this Motorola money they spent? Wasted?
7″ Pads:
No market,
No profit,
No Apple interest.
Have fun with that Google.
Next in queue please!
(insert company here) said to unveil (insert product here) this week, taking aim at Apple’s (insert apple product here).
Yawn.