DigiTimes reported that tablet makers are expected to go through another "
Tablet Price War" probably by the end of September. This is obviously excluding the
iPad. Apple obviously has no plans on budging on it's pricing. But other vendors may very well be fixing to make some price cuts in order to minimize damages due to unsold inventory.
Does this mean tablets are going extinct? Nope, it just means that the current price point for the devices is still too high for the average consumer to digest. I think
Barnes & Noble proved the point when they released the
Nook Color. I know a handful of people who have that devices and purchased it primarily to root it and run a version of
CyanogenMod on it and turn it into a full fledged tablet device; and it even came to the point where the
Nook Color received an official update with it's own tablet offerings.
Motorola proved that an alternative to the
iPad could work (even if sales were modest it sent a message to the 'Big-A', i.e.:
Apple). And other vendor's followed suit by releasing a device similar to
Motorola's Xoom but cheaper. That is the natural progression of the lifecycle of consumer electronics. Sure it happened fast, but right now vendor's seem to be hard pressed to rollout a device with a decent hardware configuration and keeping the price point under $350 to $400.
Would this upcoming price war bring down the price points even further, it's very possible. Analysts are expecting some tablets to drop to the $350 price level for the average device, and could experience drops even lower than that (some think possibly $300 could be a future going price for some devices). And by lowering the price point for these devices, it is very possible that people will feel more comfortable investing in one.
Let's face it, tablets are basically a hybrid between our cell phones and laptops. For $400 to $600 you can buy a heck of a laptop, and for how many people really pay full retail price for their cell phones? Not many. That's right, a lot of those fancy smart phones on the market come with price tags in the $300 to $500 range. However, you're cellphone carrier usually gives you steep discounts on the hardware in order to make that money back on the service charges through the course of your contract.
So why would you pay that kind of price for a similar device? Makes sense to me, drive the cost down. Sales may pick up, which means more companies may get into the tablet market and generate competition. Let's face it, right now if you're looking at tablet you're looking at (aside for the
iPad):
-
Asus
-
Acer
-
Motorola
-
Samsung or
-
Toshiba
There are cheaper tablets, but they come at a cost. With either an older outdated version of
Android, or significantly lesser hardware and resistive touchscreens. And they often times have a poorer user experience. So I encourage the vendor's to do what they need to help drive the price down. This can only help their sales, the end user's experience, and a means of further extending the Android (or similar) Operating System. And I see a lot of value for these
Android devices and only hope that the market for them doesn't crumble around itself to due to over priced and underused devices.
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