NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales

Summary: NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang blames everyone for poor Android tablet sales. Well, everyone except NVIDIA.

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes for Hardware 2.0 | May 16, 2011 -- 14:34 GMT (07:34 PDT)

NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang blames everyone for poor Android tablet sales. Well, everyone except NVIDIA.

NVIDIA makes the Tegra 2 chip used in Android 'Honeycomb' tablets, but in an interview with CNet, Huang spreads the blame pretty much everyone and everything for lackluster interest and sales:

"It's a point of sales problem. It's an expertise at retail problem. It's a marketing problem to consumers. It is a price point problem."

"The baseline configuration included 3G when it shouldn't have. Tablets should have a Wi-Fi configuration and be more affordable. And those are the ones that were selling more rapidly than the 3G and fully configured ones."

"And it's a software richness of content problem."

In other words, it has nothing to do with NVIDIA or its silicon.

Or does it? After all, benchmarks putting the iPad 2 head-to-head with Tegra 2-based hardware, Android tablets have not come out on top. Here are two examples:

For those of you of a tl;dr disposition, the upshot of the benchmark tests is that the iPad 2's A5 processor trounces the Tergra 2.

[poll id="633"]

While I do believe that Apple does a better job than any other tablet maker of explaining why people should buy an iPad (or more specifically, what they can do with and iPad) compared to Android tablet OEMs, the fact that Tegra 2 is so readily outperformed by Apple's A5 processor doesn't help sell Android tablets to professionals, geeks and techies.

Tegra 3 is in the pipeline, but that doesn't help Android tablets in the now.

Topics: Enterprise Software, Android, Mobility

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42 comments

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RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales

I'm sorry but isn't the whole point with these tablets is that we don't care what processor is in them. What we care about is what we can do with them. So far you can do far more with an iPad for the same price as an Android Tablet. Plus, wasn't the 1st gen iPad lower power than most of these Android Tablets? It still sold more.
Until these vendors stop trying to create the iPad killer and get focused on figuring out what kind of tablet experience they want users to have, Android tablets will continue to sell less.
I don't think the real tablet wars will start until Microsoft gets their act together with Windows 8, because if Microsoft and Windows can't make a dent this time around, Apple is going to continue to dominate.

rwalrond
16 May, 2011 14:52

Reply Vote
- RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @rwalrond
 
 I concur.
 
 betelgeuse68
 16 May, 2011 16:40
 
 Reply Vote
 - Still, NVidia lags behind with it's Tegra 2 comparing to Apple's A5 SoC
 
 @betelgeuse68: ... the graphic co-processor there is three times weaker, FPU is almost ten times weaker.
 
 Only Tegra-3 will balance things out.
 
 DDERSSS
 17 May, 2011 01:39
 
 Reply Vote
 - RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @betelgeuse68 i agree with you, but not with rwalrond.
 
 ejf9
 17 May, 2011 06:04
 
 Reply Vote
- RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @rwalrond
 Windows 8 won't solve it because it'll be crap. MS only gets ever other OS version right. Remember WinME, Vista? Once everyone gets from XP to Win7, no one will want the pain of win8 plus it'll be a dog since Win7 is pretty darn good. Anyone waiting on MS to save the day will be waiting for Windows 9.
 
 alanh@...
 17 May, 2011 08:42
 
 Reply Vote
- RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @rwalrond Microsoft and Intel will be the only companies able to take on Apple. Google is like a minor leaguer stepping into a Major League batters box for the first time. Sure we know theres potential for greatness but it's not going to happen overnight. By the time Google works out all the issues Win8 will be ready for primetime! I would like to add that as a consumer I don't like the idea of tablets being linked to cellular phone companies. The entire pricing plan for these companies is absurd and we all get nickel and dimed. After operating a PC over the years I don't want to sacrifice the freedoms that come with it. Tying yourself to carriers is the worst thing any of us can do.
 
 Rob.sharp
 17 May, 2011 08:48
 
 Reply Vote
 - RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @rob.sharp@... MS has moved to a position of irrelevance in the pad market. They have no products and their planned approach is too similar to their failed approach of the past. Android is the closest thing to a competitor to Apple's iPad but their current OS is way to rough and buggy to compete at this point in time.
 
 Kabcock
 18 May, 2011 10:49
 
 Reply Vote
N/A

This is rich, blame the processor.

LP212
16 May, 2011 16:15

Reply Vote
- RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
  
  @LP212
  
  I concur.
  
  betelgeuse68
  16 May, 2011 16:40
  
  Reply Vote
  - I concur ....
    
    @betelgeuse68
    
    with the concurrer ;-)
    
    Economister
    16 May, 2011 17:54
    
    Reply Vote
  - On a more serious note ....
    
    @betelgeuse68
    
    I agree that inexpensive wi-fi only base models are the way to go to jump start sales. For 2-3 hundred bucks, I might just pick one up to play with and evaluate. I might root it and play with dual booting Android and Linux if I could. For $500 and up, I will pass. And do not get me started on carriers, subsidies and contracts.
    
    And why on earth do they put microSD cards in those things? I cannot use my camera SD cards in them. Utterly stupid. I can use a microSD card in an SD slot, but NOT vice versa. Space constraints would not be the reason. I know I can buy a microSD and an adapter for the camera, bit why on earth should I have to do that?
    
    Economister
    16 May, 2011 18:08
    
    Reply Vote
Largely a software issue

I have an iPad 2 but I haven't flexed any of its graphical prowess as far as games. I've browsed, listened to music, watched Hulu+ & Netflix and read eBooks. My point being that the issue is largely software so in some sense, nVidia is "off the hook". The fact that the iPad 2 has 9x the graphics power of the original is "great" but hasn't been a factor in my usage in any way. More specifically, this isn't a "silicon problem" it's a "software ecosystem" problem. -M

betelgeuse68
16 May, 2011 16:38

Reply Vote
- RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @betelgeuse68
 
 I concur :)
 
 josh92
 16 May, 2011 23:55
 
 Reply Vote
RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales

I found that the author doesnt know how this market works.
1. Apple A5 and NVIDIA Tegra both uses the same CPU that is ARM cortex A9. Note that ARM licenses their designs. So as they are using the same CPU It makes your "vote" seem stupid.
2. It is not just NVIDIA SOCs are called" Android". There tons of other andriod devide that doesnt use NVIDIA chips. For example TI, Qualcomm...etc. There just too many of them. As NVIDIA's chip currently still plays a small role in this whole market. I dont see how NVIDIA's chip is the most important point of andriod tablet not selling. There are also lots of competitive SOCs such as OMAP 5 series that beat the performance of A5. But as you can see, just One or two advantage does not help you win the market. The "android" side clearly needs to work or market better in the macro level.

PS: childish articles though

AlwaysN
16 May, 2011 16:58

Reply Vote
- A5 is of different performance league comparing to Tegra-2
 
 @AlwaysN: Tegra-2 has three times slower graphic co-processor, and almost ten times slower vector FP calculations thab Apple's A5.
 
 While higher clocked Omaps can beat A5 in integer calculations, the graphics there is still weak and whether these have actual vector-FPU or they chose cheap design like NVidia did -- remains to be seen.
 
 DDERSSS
 17 May, 2011 01:43
 
 Reply Vote
 - RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @denisrs : Theoretical performance doesnt stand straight when it comes to actual performance. If you are talking graphic benchmarks then basically the difference is really small. And you missed my whole point here. NOTE /// Quote: "just One or two advantage does not help you win the market. The "android" side clearly needs to work or market better in the macro level." I done see processor performance as the main reason as android not showing up competitive. Please dont just put up one or two reason and act like "Ah I see thats the point". The whole competition is more complex than just performance. It also comes to things such brand reconization, price ..etc. Dont just look at the micro level of things. You should look from a higher spot to see "whole view".
 
 AlwaysN
 17 May, 2011 03:53
 
 Reply Vote
 - I did not mean to argue with that point; I mean to say that even on purely
 
 @AlwaysN: technology level Android tablets seriously lacking.
 
 And the difference is significant for graphic applications (that reviewers said when they compared iPad 2 to Xoom) and for, say, medical applications, some of which doing image processing locally (actual vector-FPU makes huge difference).
 
 DDERSSS
 17 May, 2011 08:04
 
 Reply Vote
 - RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @denisrs And by the way. I dont see how A5 it would get so much advantage among OMAP5 They both use POWERVR SGX500 series GPU. And the one in OMAP5 is in higher spec. Do more research please.
 
 It makes me feel that you are just pretending.
 
 AlwaysN
 17 May, 2011 13:18
 
 Reply Vote
 - RE: NVIDIA blames everyone (except NVIDIA) for lackluster Android tablet sales
 
 @denisrs
 Still as I have told you before. Look from a higher spot. Your vision is currently blinded by simply your "so called? performance (And it is wrong. Check the spec with OMAP and A5) And you dont get the whole macro level of marketing huh?
 
 AlwaysN
 17 May, 2011 13:22
 
 Reply Vote
 - Omap 4 has slow monocore SGX540 co-processor
 
 @AlwaysN: it is times (!) slower than SGX543MP2 from Apple's A5.
 
 And, we do not even need a "bigger picture" until competitors will be able to fight with Apple at least on hardware side of products. This problem will be dealt with Tegra-3, which is supposed to have 1.5-3 times better graphics than Tegra-2 (which is 3 times slower than A5).
 
 Software problems of Android will not be resolved that fast, though.
 
 DDERSSS
 17 May, 2011 14:14
 
 Reply Vote