Why Google's Nexus 7 Tablet Is Hotter Than Apple's iPad

http://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthof/2012/07/21/why-googles-nexus-7-tablet-is-hotter-than-apples-ipad/

by mtgx • 14 years ago

84 65 14 years ago

shpoonj• 14 years ago

Writer must be new; Apple seldom sells out, and when they do, it's for a day or two at the most.

You're kidding, right? All major new Apple products sell out when they're launched, and it takes weeks or months for them to catch up to demand.

Example: retina MacBook Pro was launched on June 11. If you order one at the Apple Store online now, it still takes 1-2 weeks.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macboo...

pooriaazimi• 14 years ago

Funny thing is the rMBP's shipping estimates has actually dropped to 1-2 weeks only today! It was 3-4 weeks before: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/07/21/retina-macbook-pro-shipp...

Zenst3• 14 years ago

True though don't didn't they initiate the trend in Just In Time manufacturing. Not sure to what scale they do these days having previous read about them buying up mountins of flash memory few years back. I dare suspect that customised models like the macbook pro which are built to your spec from the choices you get a more accomodating item for building to order. Few standard configs will be in the shops and if you want something different they can get it for you. Items ike iPads they can bulk build as little variance/permutations as its just how much memory in them for storage. But yet there has been many a time they have sold out. No supplier realy wants that, but also at the same time it does help with free news and in a way help promote your product as it does have your advantage as long as those who miss out initialy can wait and not purchase a alternative in frustration.

rprasad• 14 years ago

A Dell takes 1-2 weeks to ship too, possibly more...

It's not a matter of demand. It's a matter of acquiring the components, building the product to spec, testing it, and preparing it for shipment.

ajross• 14 years ago

The online inventory seems to be fine, or was last week. I ordered mine on the evening of the 15th and had it on my doorstep on the 19th. I'm always suspicious of retail "sell out" news. Even the linked article points out that it's subject to PR abuse.

sciwiz• 14 years ago

Right now the 16GB version is sold out on Google Play, while the 8GB ships in 3-5 days.

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_7_16g...

vegardx• 14 years ago

And most retailers are careful about having a large stock of anything that is not made by Apple, as they have a tendency to be stuck with them. I worked in retail and we rarely dared to order more than two of any new tablet that hit the market, if it was from someone but Apple.

So when a good product finally comes by, there is a natural shortage, even though the item is not really that popular.

cfn2• 14 years ago

I walked into PCWorld (UK) last week and bought one over the counter. Looking online, though, some of the larger retailers were out of stock at the time.

dpcan2• 14 years ago

"And who besides us Google watchers know that “Google Play” is an app store anyway?"

I have a feeling that if you are buying the Nexus online, you know this.

If you are buying it in a store, the sales person's pitch includes showing you that Google Play is where you get movies, music and apps. (Similar to how you can on an Apple device with the App Store)

coob• 14 years ago

What store are people buying it in?

dpcan2• 14 years ago

I'm referring to his remarks about Google Play on Android. It's Google Play on all new devices now, so if you are getting the Nexus, you are probably buying it from the Google Play store already and therefore know about it and what it is. If you are not getting the Nexus, and buying in a store, that's where you are typically told about Google Play as it's an important feature.

ConstantineXVI3• 14 years ago

I believe (can't find a screencap) if you don't have a card set up for Play yet, it'll show a prompt asking you to add one (and explains Play) when you add your account. You also get this mail[0] explaining the same.

[0] https://www.dropbox.com/s/ysgrfp2bah95kfh/Screenshot_2012-07...

sidcool• 14 years ago

I own one and it's a beautiful piece of engineering and art, at a great price. I have fallen in love with it.

taylodl• 14 years ago

tl;dr - it's no iPad but it's pretty good.

I would say that's a fair assessment. And for a lot of couple balking at the $499 entry fee for the iPad, it may just well be what they've been looking for.

metatronscube• 14 years ago

Spot on I'm my opinion. I have both, and the nexus is great but I prefer the iPad in so many ways. The price point for the nexus is the thing that initially made me buy, and if it wasn't for the price I would never have gotten an android device at all.

kellishaver2• 14 years ago

I feel the exact opposite. I've had an iPad for a couple of years, and the Nexus 7 for a few days now. I always loved my iPad, but after just a few days with the Nexus 7, I vastly prefer it. The 7in form factor feels much more comfortable to use, while still being big enough to be practical (vs. the smaller form factor of a phone). I'm also loving how customizable Android is. Even just being able to set up a home screen that provides some useful information via a couple of widgets, instead of just a collection of icons is a bonus.

Samuel_Michon7• 14 years ago

The entry level iPad costs $399, not $499. That makes it twice as expensive as the N7, but it also has twice the screen area.

http://store.apple.com/us/buy/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad/ipa...

gjm112• 14 years ago

> twice the screen area

I have never understood this way of thinking. (Nor, likewise, the idea that the right way to compare laptop screens or monitors is by how big they are across the diagonal.)

The Nexus 7 has a smaller screen area than the iPad 2, but it has more pixels. If for some purpose the physical size is the limiting factor for you, you can hold it closer to your head.

Of course this stops being true at the point where you can't easily focus on it any closer (which gets further and further out as your eyes age), or where having it closer makes touch interactions uncomfortable somehow. But is either of these really the limiting factor for a lot of tablet users?

(I'm in my 40s -- some way above the median of the market for these things, according to the stats I've seen -- and for me a 7" screen at the closest point where I can easily focus occupies about the same amount of my visual field as my (home) desktop monitor at normal operating distance.)

reiichiroh2• 14 years ago

I bought one and it's finally a worthy Android device to my iOS devices. However, there is one tragic flaw with it--the tablet apps are of a terribly varying quality. Only a tiny tiny handful are tightly programmed with the device's screen size and other considerations in mind. No apps are as tightly polished as the good ones deliberately targeted for iPad. Most tablet apps on Android were automatically resized with no thought and it shows--they're ugly as hell.

ConstantineXVI3• 14 years ago

There's yet to be a real standard-bearer for Android tablets (the Transformer was close, but Asus alone didn't have the name recognition to push it) before the N7; so I'd expect the quality of tablet apps to start shaping up finally. ICS being on a respectable number of devices should help as well (since 3.0 was a "breaking" release).

IMHO, with the exception of games[0] and such, Android handles phone-tablet scaling much better than iOS does: the UI properly fills the screen, text isn't pixelated, and you aren't forced into a phone-size keyboard that doesn't even reach the screen edge.

[0] games are typically very specific wrt resolution, this isn't a tablet problem as much as an Android problem thanks to the wide variance in screen aspects.

Samuel_Michon7• 14 years ago

“Android handles phone-tablet scaling much better than iOS does: the UI properly fills the screen, text isn't pixelated, and you aren't forced into a phone-size keyboard that doesn't even reach the screen edge.”

iOS has none of the problems you mentioned, so what exactly makes Android better than iOS in that regard?

entropy_• 14 years ago

Even with games, if you use vector graphics and the aspect ratio is close-ish it can work pretty damn well. I tried out the phone version of Angry Birds on a Transformer at some point and if it weren't for the extra button on the bar allowing me to choose scaling modes I couldn't have known this wasn't targeted for tablets.

ZeroGravitas2• 14 years ago

Uglier than an iPhone app on the iPad? That's impressive.

reiichiroh2• 14 years ago

iPhone apps on iPad are obviously that. People may complain about being entitled to a single version that works versus buying two but even the Universal iOS apps have an entirely separate iPad UI/version usually. This is just being lazy just to say that your app "works on tablets."

Zenst3• 14 years ago

I highly recommend reading thru the user reviews, a good selection also, as rating is not everything. But it's half the fun finding that gem of an application that has the same mindset as yourself and you like. Just be mindful what permisions some applicaiton require, but enjoy.

astrodust2• 14 years ago

Both iOS and Android have a bell curve in terms of quality of application, but Android's apps, like Windows, tend to be on average much lower quality.

Part of this is the laisez-faire attitude of developers towards design and completeness, and part of this is making applications that work properly on the myriad of Android devices is very hard.

BasDirks• 14 years ago

Nexus 7 is exciting to me because it means that Apple-which already sets itself very high standards, for which I am thankful-will not be allowed to slack off. Hooray for competition.

amartya9162• 14 years ago

While I love the Nexus 7 tablet's pricing, ultimately I think it's going to hurt the Android tablet ecosystem. With wafer-thin (non-existent?) profit margins on the hardware, only companies like Amazon and Google, which have content to sell at a profit, will be able to compete in the market.

I don't think any company that is not subsidized by Google (i.e. Asus in this case), is going to get out of the tablet business.

So yes, the Nexus is a fantastic device at a fantastic price, but my hopes of a vibrant ecosystem for Android tablet -though previously low- seems further diminished.

ChrisLTD• 14 years ago

Selling the N7 at $200 could be a bulwark against Apple and Amazon's domination of the tablet market. At $250 it looks unfavorable vs the Kindle Fire. At $300 you start to think you should buy an iPad. But at $200 it's the same price as the Fire, but clearly nicer.

Hardware production prices will eventually fall and there could be a profit margin there for manufacturers if they stick to the $200 mark and don't lower it.

jsz0• 14 years ago

Agreed. Companies that were previously making Android tablets could probably make more money now building high margin accessories like cases and docks for the N7. To have done so much damage to the potential third party Android tablet market Google must have realized this was the make/break moment for Android tablets and really didn't have any other choice. It's still going to be a massive uphill battle against the 8" iPad over the holiday season.

dman• 14 years ago

Lack of mind share among developers and consumers is a much bigger problem than margins when you are bootstrapping a network. Look at Sun while they were going and BlackBerry/Nokia now - on the products that they manage to sell their margins are not bad, but do they have critical mass? If Google does this right - then they have a shot at doing with Nexus to Apple what Microsoft did to Sony with the Xbox.

majorlazer• 14 years ago

Well seeing as how there are only two decent Android tablets on the market (Transformer and Galaxy), I personally don't mind this one bit. Google gave the manufacturers a chance to create competitive tablets, and it just hasn't been happening (same could be said for the Android phones). The Android ecosystem is polluted with bad hardware combined with modified versions of Android that make Google look bad. Now Google has taken control and is releasing it's own hardware. Microsoft is doing the same. It seems like this is the only way to stay competitive with Apple.

amartya9162• 14 years ago

The problem is with the pricing. As someone else mentioned, they wanted to take the fight to the Kindle Fire and hence started at $200. I get that.

However, I still think that Google could have taken control, and released it's own hardware (although the Nexus 7 is an Asus tablet first shown at CES ... mostly) with some profit($249 as the starting price) built into the equation, and still sold boatloads.

notatoad• 14 years ago

Can you really hurt a market when it is in as bad of shape as the android tablet market is? Prior to the nexus seven, nobody was buying android tablets because android tablets were pretty shitty. Maybe all the people making those shitty tablets deserved to be squeezed out of the market.

wlesieutre• 14 years ago

Google doesn't stand to lose much of anything. The other tablet manufacturers have released very few solid tablet products, and mostly at prices that put them at a disadvantage to the iPad. If Google can put out their own tablet with good build quality, decent specs, and reliable software updates for more than a month (I'm looking at you, every other Android device), then they're improving the image of the OS itself as well as giving consumers a better tablet to buy.

What do the other manufacturers have to offer to the ecosystem? A few things, like the Transformer Prime, have been genuinely innovative devices, but it seems like they mostly just dump their own UIs on top of old versions of Android and act like that differentiates their products.

mgcross2• 14 years ago

I think the halo effect of Google's devices (and Jelly Bean) strengthens the market and opens it up for tablets with more features. I'd pay $150 more for a 7" with DLNA, sd card, and a rear camera (for scanning, goggles, and AR).

Jare• 14 years ago

Where you say "vibrant ecosystem" I read "full of race-to-the-bottom crappy products diluting the Android brand value and driving developers iElsewhere."

They are raising the minimum quality/price ratio, and that's a good thing.

cfn2• 14 years ago

I guess you mean the likes of Motorola and Samsung but there are dozens of Android tablets at or below the $100 mark. Many people call them "chinese tablets" as they are not status symbols but they sure do the job (or at least some of them do). So there is some leeway pricewise.

Somehow brings to mind the PC market before the white boxes took off.

Zenst3• 14 years ago

A warm tablet is nice in the winter. Also in the UK there was an official judgement about the iPad being cool. So I'll not argue with a Judge - XXXX tablet compared to a iPad is always hotter :), its the law; Least in the UK!

[EDIT ADD]`Judge Birss ruled that Samsung's designs did not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design: "They are not as cool."`

So in the UK iPad's are cool. Also electrical devices have 2 years warranty in the UK, so I'm not too worried about it getting warm as long as the battery life is not adversly shortened. I'm not put off getting one, when I can afford to do so.

jrabone• 14 years ago

It's a shame that there are some serious quality issues with the Nexus 7 though. I pre-ordered two from the play store in the UK. Both arrived a few days ago, both had the loose screen and one doesn't have a working touch screen. Still waiting on an RMA email 3 days after calling support.

The one that does work ended up being a present to my partner, and it does look very nice. I have a Galaxy S2, which is still running Gingerbread, by way of comparison.

mung• 14 years ago

The author "almost forgot" the real main reason why it's "so hot"...

bstar77• 14 years ago

Apple may as well let Samsung sell the Galaxy Tab. They can thank Google for effectively killing the Android tablet market with this subsidized device that will always be a step ahead on software releases. I can't think of a single reason why I would buy any other android tablet.

There are only two android based companies that can afford to do this: Google and Amazon. How are the other hardware players supposed to compete now? This seems far worse than what Microsoft is doing with the surface (unless they sell that for $99).

stcredzero• 14 years ago

$175, and Microsoft could still do as much damage.

orangecat• 14 years ago

Even if the 8GB version is sold exactly at cost, that still gives the 16GB version (the one that's actually sold out) a decent margin.

How are the other hardware players supposed to compete now?

For starters, provide capabilities that the N7 lacks like an SD slot and rear camera. Of course, they'd also have to stop screwing up the OS with their skins and commit to a reasonable upgrade policy.

nextstep• 14 years ago

How is this "hotter than Apple's iPad?". Every spec listed is described as worse than an iPad (except for price).

jeffool• 14 years ago

If you're asking by what definition of "hotter", the answer is "by sales demand". But that's the entirety of the article. If you're asking "how", I think you answered it in the last three words of your post ("except for price"). "Under the hood" doesn't matter as much with these items for now.

nl• 14 years ago

Did you read the article?

It very clearly explains what it means.

NiekvdMaas• 14 years ago

The screen is no Retina like the latest iPad, but it still looks sharp and bright.

This makes no sense: the Nexus 7 has 216 PPI. True, this is lower than the (lates generation) iPad's 264 PPI, but similar to the MBP Retina at 220 PPI.

shinratdr• 14 years ago

Let me guess, because Forbes needed some click-bait?

Why Google's Nexus 7 Tablet Is Hotter Than Apple's iPad

Related Stories