Android Devices
The Android community must fight generalizations on Honeycomb tablet price
March 4, 2011 | by Michael Heller
Tablets
I fully understand when people around the iPad 2 announcement make blanket statements that “Android tablets are too expensive”, because I take everything connected to an Apple event through a bias filter. But, when those same comments come from Android sites and in the comments of our stories, I feel like I need to say something: We need to stop the generalization. We can’t use the Xoom as a sample of the entire Android tablet ecosystem. Not all Android tablets are expensive and not all are going to be expensive.
Examining the samples
The Xoom is a bit on the expensive side, there’s no argument on that, but the Xoom isn’t the only tablet on the market and it’s only going to be the lone Honeycomb tablet on the market for less than 3 weeks (if the G-Slate rumors are correct.) For those who want to throw out the blanket statement that “Android tablets are too expensive”, keep this in mind: there are literally dozens of cheap (in every sense of the word) Android tablets on the market. Those tablets have dominated the Android ecosystem until now, but would you rather have devices like the Augen tablet being the headline for Android or the Xoom? There are also a couple pretty nice tablets at very reasonable prices: the Galaxy Tab price is down to $449 off contract, or as low as $249 on contract, the Tegra 2 powered Notion Ink Adam is as low as $500, and the Tegra 2 Viewsonic G Tablet is as low as $350.
Sure, these aren’t Honeycomb tablets, and most don’t even have access to the Android Market, but they are still Android tablets. And, what about those Honeycomb tablets? The LG G-Slate looks like it’s going to clock in at $699 for the 4G version, which likely means a $500-550 price range on a WiFi-only model isn’t out of the question. Sony has announced a $599 10″ tablet for later this year. There are also a number of other tablets without established pricing yet, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the HTC Flyer, and Toshiba tablet, not to mention the myriad tablets from 2nd tier manufacturers which have been announced at CES and MWC. We can’t assume that all of those tablets will copy the Xoom pricing structure. We can’t even assume that the Xoom price will hold once there is more competition, especially given that a day after the iPad 2 announcement Motorola started offering $100 coupons for the Xoom.
Price factors
Competition is a big determinant of price, and right now the Xoom has no competition. By that, I mean we can’t really consider the iPad as competition right now, because the Xoom is something completely different. People who want the iPad know they want it, the Xoom isn’t even on their radar. Those who know that they specifically want an Android tablet know that there will be more choice very soon. So, the Xoom’s audience right now has a very high proportion of early adopters, developers, and tech fetishists, none of whom are too cost conscious. The Xoom can charge a premium because it is the only option for those who cannot wait 3 more weeks to own a Honeycomb tablet, and for those who want to have Verizon service. Motorola has the luxury to ignore anyone complaining about the price right now, because they can always drop the price once there is more competition in the Honeycomb space and claim it’s because they want to make customers happy.
The other big price determinant, as we saw with the teardown of the Xoom, is the screen. The Xoom screen is big and it is costly. The screen alone accounts for 39% of the component cost of the Xoom. The Xoom as a whole cost $360 just for the components, not counting manufacturing, storage, shipping, marketing, etc. So, it is completely unreasonable right now to expect tablets that cost as little as netbooks. 7″ tablets like the Galaxy Tab 2, HTC Flyer, and the rumored smaller screen Motorola tablets should be able to significantly cut that cost and therefore drive down the cost. But, ultimately, we still have to be careful how we’re comparing, and what exactly we consider expensive.
Comparing Apples to Apples
People love to toss around that $499 number, as if that’s the magic number when it comes to tablets. First of all, why is that the magic number? Because Apple sells a 16 GB tablet with no 3G connectivity, no SD card storage expansion, and no GPS? If that’s what you’re looking for, then you can’t compare that model to the standard Xoom, which not only has all of the things I listed as missing on that model iPad, but it has a better quality front facing camera, LED flash, double the internal storage, a standard USB port (rather than needing Apple proprietary cables,) and a higher resolution screen. And, keep in mind we still don’t know how the RAM compares between the iPad and Xoom. Even if you want to compare the comparable 32 GB 3G iPad the difference is a mere $70, which for all intents and purposes could be considered an “early adopter Honeycomb tax”.
Once the G-Slate hits, you’ll be able to give all of the same extra standard features compared to the iPad, plus 3D video capture and glasses-assisted 3D viewing, all for $30 less than the iPad (assuming price rumors are correct.) Add in more and more Honeycomb tablet competition in the coming months, and the idea of generalizing that Android tablets are expensive gets more and more silly.
Conclusion
The one Honeycomb tablet is more expensive than the comparable iPad, but the next Honeycomb tablet likely be cheaper, and there are a lot more on the way after that. Soon enough there will be various Android tablets to compete with every tier of the iPad. They may not all come from the same manufacturer, but we shouldn’t expect that. It’s not how the Android ecosystem has worked in the past, so why would it change once tablets showed up?
Verizon and Motorola wanted to start off the age of the Honeycomb tablet with a high end device, and they will charge for it. T-Mobile and LG will come in and charge less, because T-Mobile has to be more aggressive in pricing. Samsung will make multiple sizes on multiple carriers and fill in even more of the market. Yes, right this minute the iPad is cheaper than the Xoom, but it also doesn’t have all the standard features. If you don’t want those standard features, that’s fine. I don’t want all the bells and whistles either, that’s why I’m waiting on an Android tablet. But, that doesn’t mean that we can generalize that all Android tablets are expensive. Let’s all try to keep some perspective here.
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$500 is still to much, IMHO. I set the Xoom down next to my $300 netbook, and realize I can do much more with my Netbook with comparable portability. And I sure as hell know the Xoom isn't going to replace my full laptop anytime soon.
The Xoom is good, but not $800 good.
The iPad1/2 is good, but not $500 good.
I definitely agree that for now the pricing probably needs to be where it is, but don't expect tablets to really take off until they're priced like netbooks.
What you're asking for is basically a pipe dream until the cost of the components comes down. The Xoom costs Motorola $360 just for the parts, not counting manufacturing and all other costs. I'm sure the touchscreen component on the Xoom costs as much as all the components combined in your netbook.
But, with luck, the high demand for touchscreens in phones and tablets will lead to breakthroughs in producing those components and bring the price down.
Definitely understand that. We're still really in the first generation of tablets, and tablets will take off once they can reasonably bring prices into the $3-400 range.
Refurb'd iPads are now $350.I think that thing might just take off.
the current offerings other then the xoom are crap …they can't compete….it will get better but i think its perfectly vaild to point out that right now apple really does own this space and its going to take a bit for android to catch up ….it will happen eventually tho
I understand the Xoom is a premium tablet. I want a basic tablet branding with Samsung or LG logo's and a very low price (less than a Netbook). Use 8.9 inch screen for lower cost. And later drop a premium tablet, with FullHD rear camera, 3D shooting and all that stuff with a higher price.
The whole tablet thing is status thing at the moment. Sure it will be big for a while, atleast until people actually stop to think what they are actually good for (even I wanted one, until I don't have a use for it) .
Is it just me or am the only one who hates touch screens? They are ok to complement / use in conjunction with keyboard, but hell I found the things so damn annoying.
I'd like a smaller 8.9 inch screen. But the real thing for me is a digitizer. I was really disappointed HTC went with Sense and Android 2.3 for their tablet. I'll wait and see what other tablets have the ntrig digitizers. That to me is what a tablet is all about, taking notes.
honeycomb is brand new (it may be called android 3.0 but it should really be called android tablet OS 1.0) and has several issues to deal with
Didn't hear about the Flyer update…knowing HTC though vNext of Android will already be out. I forgot about the Notion Ink digitizer. I originally loved that. if they got it out a little sooner….
Great article. Fully agree with everything you said. I am pretty sick of the Android community making the assumption that Xoom will be standard. It has a 3G chip and comes with subsidized pricing and they wonder why its marked high?
Wait until the WiFi models hit before we actually complain too much.
The first hours after iPad 2 was announced I read a bunch of articles from several tech sites claiming "Apple has done it again". Later on in the same tech sites are started seeing articles starting to judge the iPad 2 for what it truly is. Lets face it. Apple and Steve in particular knows how to sell an idea very well. But seeing things for what they truly are for the same price of the iPad 2 you'll have specs wise better Android tablets. But not only that, Android 3.0 IS better than iOS 4.3.
And this isn't about being a fanboy or something. You can clearly name features of Android 3.0 that aren't even possible in iOS 4.3.
Just to name a few. Widgets, cross application activities (share with…), completely customizable UI, tab browsing, completely integrated cloud sync, flash and air support, and so on.
One example of a feature of the iOS that Apple has thrown a lot of hype around.
Facetime. Facetime only works across Apple products. No Facetime over a web browser. No Facetime on Windows or Linux. Google Video chat is coming to Android. And you can video chat WHEREVER you are. As long as you have a web browser you can video chat with your Android friends and vice-versa, Obviously the iPad 2 will sell well but Apple has not announced a killer product. Quite the contrary. It is Android that has surpassed iOS capabilities.
Now regarding price. In my opinion this devices are way to expensive. Taking that into count I think the first iPad is probably going to be the choice for many people looking for a cheaper product. $300 is way more justifiable.
Motorola has the only 1 BIG problem- it presented only 1 absolutely correctly priced Xoom. Full-featured pack. The *highest-end* Xoom. The *most expensive* Xoom.
If Apple presented only one iPad for $829 on the launch, everybody would say that it's OVERPRICED.
But it would be priced correctly too.
This is a perceptional moment. Motorola hasn't any PRICE OPTIONS for now, therefore the ONLY ONE EXISTING and at the same time the most ADVENCED Xoom from a potential Xoom's line-up looks strangely with such a high price WITHOUT any Xoom price alternatives. If they launched 4 Xooms from $499 to $799 nobody would say that Xoom for $799 is overpriced, because people would clearly see that Xoom for $799 is the price option #4. And they can buy #3, #2 and #1 options. Motorola just doesn't have AN ENTRY-LEVEL Xoom now. No, it has, but it's the most expensive Xoom. Wifi-only Xoom will change this. 2 Xooms could be enough. But simultaneously.
Xoom is totally awesome. People just need the second, wifi-only Xoom to compare and to have an *affordable* ENTRY-level Xoom I think, many of them will choose Xoom for $799, having a choice.
Honeycomb is beautiful.
I paid about $350 for my G Tablet. It now accesses the Market and I have nearly every application (or an equivalent) that I have on my apple I touch. It works great. Yes, I had to "tweak" it but it is a great product for the $300 something ball park. I anticipate it will run 3.0 soon.
XOOM pricing was a big disappointment. I was waiting for it to come out and then saw what Moto was charging for it! I have an iPad 1 now and love the user interface and functionality. If the iPad 2 had flash I would just get that now. I hope someone else comes out with a better priced Honeycomb tablet soon and learn from Motorola's pricing stumble….
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