With the future (or lack thereof) of the TouchPad sealed on 18 August, it was clear that there really isn’t room enough in the market for so many tablets. Apple has taken the biggest chunk of the tablet pie, and Android another biggish chunk (albeit by multiple manufacturers), that leaves everyone else to fight for the remaining small piece of the pie, a very small piece, indeed.
But then on the 19 August, things turned bittersweet for HP. The TouchPad flew off the shelves faster than they can be found in the store rooms. That had been the dreams of the HP executives, except they were flying off not at the price point HP wanted. So what does it say about the tablet market?
No one will buy a tablet if it costs the same as the iPad
To many users, an iPad is just a bigger iPhone, and there are literally millions and millions of iPhone users out there. They are already familiar with the iOS interface; they are already familiar with the App Store ecosystem; and more importantly, they know how to use it. And if Jakob Nielsen ever taught me anything, it is that people like familiarity.
For people to change their behaviours and use something else, there needs to be incentive for them to do so. An alternative tablet that costs just as much as the iPad is not that incentive.
Why should I, an Average Joe, who is so familiar with my iPhone, wants to buy something that I need to learn how to use when, for the same price, I can get something that I already know how to use?
iPad also has one advantage, iPhone apps works on it. Okay, maybe not ALL iPhone apps work, and maybe they need to be scaled up, but in the majority of cases, people don’t want to pay twice to use a similar app if they already have one available.
So what is the incentive that will make people buy anything other than the iPad?
$99 seems to be the sweet spot
It’s not that consumers don’t embrace other tablets, it’s just that the tablets are marketed at the wrong price. Just have a look at the fire sale price of the TouchPad. Even though it is now obsolete, five million people step over each other just trying to find one.
The $99 price is certainly a very attractive price. Irrespective of whether Android can be ported to the TouchPad, consumers (at least those who commented on forums, or is that fora?) can accept a $99 device that does hardly anything other than surfing the interweb.
There are consumers out there who want a second of third tablet, but $500 a pop is asking too much. A $99 device is perfect for that. There is certainly a niche at the bottom of the market for a low cost tablet. In fact, Chinese manufacturers have been producing them, it’s just that no-one seems to notice.
Instant success is everything
Over at Economic Times, there is an article about how fast IT companies are cutting their losses early.
This has somehow become the norm, and it is scary. HP never really let the TouchPad grow. Granted, the hardware / software combination is not the spectacular, but it has its followers. If Microsoft killed off the Xbox 360 because of poor sales, Kinect would not have existed. But then again, Xbox 360 didn’t have that many competitions in its field.
It is scary to think that company will cut their losses so early. I, for one, wouldn’t want to buy a tech that cost hundreds of dollar only to find out that they are discontinued as soon as I take it home.
I can buy a chair that IKEA doesn’t produce anymore, because it’s a chair, it still serves its function long after I die. But for a piece of tech, whether it’s a phone, a tablet, a laptop or a modem, for better or for worse, it needs constant support like a kid needing constant attention. I like to buy things that last. And if I think that whatever I’m buying will become deadweight overnight, I will wait and see. And if I wait and see, that means the company is not moving units. Thus, it becomes a vicious cycle.
Words get out fast… very fast
It was only this Monday morning that Harvey Norman announced that there will be a fire sale of the TouchPad at 2 in the afternoon, and boy, did it spread like wildfire or what. Twitters picked up on the news and all of a sudden, the whole nation is mobilised.
I really wondered how many people who were still at work sneaked out to buy one. From the look of some photos, they are all office workers.
We are truly living in the Information Age. News spread faster than you can blink. I can’t believe I still remember the quickest way to know something is watching the evening news or reading the next day’s newspaper, on paper.
I am getting old.
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