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Google better get its own tablet released, and soon

Summary: The rumored Google tablet is something that better happen, and soon or Google will lose the Android tablet war to Amazon.

James Kendrick

By for Mobile News |

A recurring rumor that pops up regularly is that Google is going to sell its own branded Android tablet. It is believed this will be part of the Google Play rebranding of the Android Market. The Google Nexus tablet, or whatever it may be called, would be subsidized to keep the price down.

See also: Kindle Fire owns over half of Android tablet market

While some feel Google better not make such a move and compete with its partners, one simple fact just pointed out by AllThingsD says just the opposite. Google better get its own cheap tablet out and soon, as there are now more tablets in users' hands running Amazon's version of Android than there are running Google's Android.

Read that last sentence again and think about it. There are more Kindle Fires running Amazon's customized version of Android than all of the tablets from Samsung, Motorola, Acer, and others combined. In just six months Amazon has taken over the Android tablet business, and with an OS that doesn't look anything like Android.

Google needs to do something about this, and quickly, or it will see 'Android' on tablets go away. It doesn't matter if Amazon is using an Android base for the Kindle Fire if customers don't know that. Perception is reality to consumers and Amazon has already altered the reality.

Perhaps Google saw this coming, and is hard at work getting its own tablet to market. Make no mistake, it better do so and soon. Its real competition is not the iPad, it is Amazon and the Kindle Fire. If it waits much longer to take it on directly, it may be too late.

See also:

Topics: Hardware, Google, Laptops, Mobility, Tablets

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21 comments
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  • Amazon vs. Google vs. Apple

    James, you are right to a large extent here. What Android needs in the tablet market is a low cost, (relatively) full feature tablet to undercut Apple's dominance. Amazon is doing just that. For me, the Kindle has too many trade-offs, so I haven't purchased one.

    Samsung just released a $250 tablet which I think is the right price point, plus it has the right feature set. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it advertised anywhere. Without some significant advertising, it won't sell. Plus, how many entry-level buyers are going to purchase based upon the Samsung name? If Google had its name on this tablet, we would have a serious sales battle.

    Sadly for Google, for now they are getting beaten on every tablet front.
    jglopic
    Reply Vote

    • the media has created this so called war

      I just don't see how google cares that much about "tablets". Would it be nice if the 50 million iPads were running android? Sure, but google doesn't profit directly like apple and a lesser extent amazon do. If they are activating 700k androids a day, I don't see if it really matters whether its a 10" or a 4". Google put out an attempt at a big-screen friendly verison of android because mfrs were putting 2.x on 10" screens and google thought that was a bad idea. Google found themselves in the middle of a tablet war that they never planned to enter.

      For example, what if some crazy company put out an android-based toilet and that didn't sell well. The media would be saying google is losing the toilet war, because its not intuitive enough, or android blows, or whatever.

      But, I belive google does care specifically about the Fire and sure enough it looks like they are going to compete with it head on. Competition is great, isn't it?
      deathjazz68
      Reply Vote

      • Here is a dirty little (documented) fact ....

        Google makes more money out of the iPad than it does out of ALL Android devices combined.

        So, you are right. Google doesn't care about Android on tablets (or even smartphones). They only care about making $$$ ... and it shows with the poor quality of the product.
        wackoae
        Reply Vote

  • How can google loose an "Android" tablet war?

    Pagan jim
    James Quinn
    Reply Vote

    • RE: How can google loose an "Android" tablet war?

      Easy. Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble use the open-sourced Android for their devices, eReaders and tablets. Neither are members of the Open Handset Alliance and, therefore, are not Google business partners. They both have their own equivalent to Google Play, meaning content sales, services and app stores.
      Rabid Howler Monkey
      Reply Vote

  • Most android phone users dont know their phone is running android either

    and dont buy anything from the android market so this really isnt that different. Google cant really recoup subsudies the way amazon can either because android "buyers" dont really buy much. They may have missed their window in the US with ATT and Verizon readying to start promoting WP8/W8 tablet bundles.
    Johnny Vegas
    Reply Vote

    • That is BS

      I don't know a single owner of an Android phone that doesn't realize it is Android. I am talking average everyday people.
      slickjim
      Reply Vote

      • I Know Several

        I personally know several people with Android phones who don't know they have an Android phone, and indeed, they don't even know what 'Android' is....Once a friend of mine was bragging that he got a new smartphone, and I asked to see it, after a few minutes looking at it, I said 'ahhh...you have an Android phone....' and he responded 'what do you mean an Android phone? This is a Samsung phone....'
        Doctor Demento
        Reply Vote

  • This is Bogus reporting.

    Go read the fire comments to reviews... The people buying that device are buying it as an ereader first and a tablet second... The two are mutually exclusive and most of the comments reflect that the device is too crippled for their tastes.

    Then you have the users who are trying to figure out why Android tablets have page numbers in the kindle App and The Fire does not.

    Yes, the Kindle is somewhere between the iPad 1 and iPad 2 but it is not being sought after by those who want a tablet.

    And Samsung sold better in Europe and Asia so these numbers only reflect the US market but, you will never let the facts get in the way of a good story huh?
    slickjim
    Reply Vote

  • Google is an unknown in consumer electronics.

    The Geeks will continue to be Google's main demographics, in the consumer electronics space. Not the general consumers currently buying-up iPads and Kindle Fires. Slapping Google's name (or Nexus) on the back of a cheap 7" tablet device will mean little to the average tablet buying consumers. Google is an unknown in the consumer electronics space (hardware). The vast majority of Android users don't even know they are using an Android device (or that Android is an OS build by Google). Add to that the ecosystem that is far behind where Apple and Amazon is, I see a very slim chance of a Google tablet selling well.
    dave95.
    Reply Vote

    • Yep

      I agree. The premise of this article seems to be that Google's hardware partners have failed to produce a winning Android tablet, so now Google must produce one because Google will succeed where Motorola, Samsung, Asus, and Toshiba have failed. I don't see where this success is supposed to come from. Google's vaunted "ecosystem"? What ecosystem? It's all mouthware. Maybe if they bought Netflix they'd have something. But if they did that, the hardware partners could actually sell some tablets and then Google wouldn't have to make their own.

      So far the only vendors who have succeeded in this space are the ones who understood from the get-go that the device itself is not the product. It's like that old saw about power tools: customers aren't buying drills; what they want is holes. All the companies that went to market with a "device" that had gigahertz and ports and megapixels very quickly did a face plant. Amazon didn't have gigahertz or ports or megapixels, but they had books and movies and now they're a big success.
      Robert Hahn
      Reply Vote

  • Same thing from writer as always

    Every article this Apple fan boy writes as non biased and informative gives me something to chuckle about!!!
    openminded123
    Reply Vote

  • Look carefully....

    ... at the research report. The Kindle Fire has taken away market share only from high priced media tablets. Hybrid tablets are flat. The market needs more options and once the nexus tablet is out, it will take a big piece of the pie.

    http://www.tech-thoughts.net/
    sameer_singh17
    Reply Vote

  • Google Tablet

    I am waiting for google Tablet for so long time. I think now I cannot wait more than 30 days, so please release as soon as possible
    phpprakash
    Reply Vote

  • Google vs. Ipad

    I am a non biased developer for IOS and Android. I own both an Apple and a Android tablet. I use the iPad and iPhone for review of applications that are being deployed to the phone and tablet and do the same for my Android Tablet and Phone. I personally prefer the Android OS and the options as a user it gives me in regards to flexibility.

    I disagree with the writer as the Kindle Fire is meeting a different market overall than the Ipad and Android tablets. Most individuals buying the Kindle are doing so for a reader. The ones serious about a tablet purchase will pay the $100 more and get an Android with Kindle, Barnes and Noble and quite a few more book store apps available to them. An educated buyer will see it is a no brainer to spend $100 more for the full Android experience.

    As far as the iPad goes it is a great device. However if you do not love Apple with all your heart you may want to think twice. Put two or three years into your iTunes movies, iBooks, i(putwhateverhere) and move to another platform. Then try to enjoy listening to or reading your material. It can be done, but for the typical consumer they will be unhappy with the results.

    Take a more open approach with Android and use DropBox, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, a good RSS Reader app like Google Reader, or any others that run on all devices and be smart. No matter how much you like Apple and if you dislike Android it matters not to me.

    The next great device may be neither, so choose wisely where you put your data and think twice as to why Google really needs their own Tablet.
    openminded123
    Reply Vote

  • It'll Do vs. Insanely Great

    Google has a problem with Android. The only places Android is gaining traction is - in one way or another - at fire sales. And the problem Google and their partners have is that they are aiming for 'it'll do' rather than for 'insanely great'.

    Android phones are successful because the carriers are pushing them through their channel, which they are induced to do because Android phones require smaller subsidies from the carrier. Translation: Android phones sell 'cause they're cheap.

    Android tablets are selling in significant quantities only when dumped at a loss or sold at or near cost by Amazon. Same translation.

    Everywhere Android goes, cheap, just barely good enough products follow. The differences in manufacturing costs aren't that much either, between Android vendors and Apple. The difference in selling prices is mostly a matter of Apple actually making a profit and Apple's competitors just building products pro-bono...

    Now, if some Android vendor were to build a 7", true 1080p tablet, with a solid case (I like super-plastic formed titanium for the back), spend the resources to really scrub Android to be smooth, fluid, consistent, etc. they just might give Apple a run for their money, and make some profit doing it. Who knows, Google might even try it...
    z2217
    Reply Vote

  • It'll do??

    500,000 activations a day is evidently considered more than a substandard it'll do device. They are successful because they offer choice and variety. I cannot even begin to configure my Ipad to come close to the flexibility of my Android tablet

    I can understand why some prefer one over the other, but seriously it'll do?. Coming in late to the game and being where Google is, well let's just say a run for the money is kind of already happened!
    openminded123
    Reply Vote

    • Will it do? Not unless it's insanely great.

      If Android devices are such quality products and offer such a compelling choice, why is it that makers of Android based products seem to have such a problem selling them at a profit?

      Gad! Even Google is making more money from iPads than from Android tablets...

      Yes, you can customize your Android device, sorta like you can customize that plastic Transformers toy that came in your Happy Meal. Cool, fun, cute maybe. Insanely great, well not so much.

      With an iPad, or another iOS device, the fit, the finish, the smooth way things scroll, how the keyboard works, how the device feels when you pick it up, the buying experience, even the box it comes in represent the very best effort Apple knows how to make. These products are "insanely great", in the sense that they represent the best that the maker could do.

      The problem with Android devices is that they are less than the best their makers are capable of. Android devices are the products of companies that "settled" for something "good enough" to get into the market. It isn't that Android device makers aren't capable of building better quality into their products. Heck, most of them build parts for Apple products to begin with!

      The Android OS and the associated ecosystem from Google have the careful thought and polished, seamless integration you might expect from some high school science project. Android device makers get this OS for about what it is worth, then load it onto platforms built on the technology of cheap plastic crap, and then sell the resulting product at WalMart, which is kind of appropriate.

      If all the "corner cutting" in Android products was actually producing value - for instance, if it significantly reduced manufacturing and support costs, or better addressed the market with greater simplicity and ease of use - then Android device makers would be making gobs of money on these devices. They aren't. Android products are coming to us from companies run by suits obsessed with their spreadsheets, building "good enough" products to fill out their product lines. These folks never even heard of "insanely great", and it shows.
      z2217
      Reply Vote

      • okay

        I own both and could not disagree more. Your analogy with a happy meal toy was worth the time for comedy relief. To each their own. I do wonder how many of those who comment have spent time with both outside of a few minutes in a target or best buy.

        I love my iPad a lot but my Android is no where close to being inferior, quite the opposite to say the least.

        Thanks for the laugh however, everybody needs to lighten their day. By the way I just looked at an iPad for sale at Wal Mart, so not sure you understand your own points of argument.
        openminded123
        Reply Vote

      • Okay, okay

        Yes, I have seen Apple products on sale at WalMart. But, at least they weren't exposed to the open air!
        z2217
        Reply Vote
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