Toshiba Expresses Bold Confidence in their Android Tablet - Takes Direct Aim at iPad2

[dgstorm]

Picture Source: Slashgear​

Toshiba is confident they have an iPad2 killer with their new Android Tablet. The General Manager of Toshiba Australia’s Information Systems Division recently made the bold statement: “We believe that our device is superior to the Apple device, it may be a little heavier (773g), but it does have a lot of features that the iPad 2 does not have.”

Their confidence is inspiring and is in absolute contrast to Samsung's recent weak statements rethinking their own tablets. Toshiba indicated their pricing will be comparable to the iPad2 at around $600 bucks for the 32GB version, which will greatly contribute to their competitive edge against the Apple product.

I like their attitude; "to be the best, you gotta beat the best". What do you guys think? Is Toshiba being "over-confident" or do they really have what it takes to take-on Apple?

Source: AndroidTablets.net via AndroidHeadlines

 

[dextroz]

Keep in mind Toshiba:

1. If there is a skin on that UI - you fail automagically
2. If you don't update the tablet for the next 2 years - you fail automagically
3. If you lock the bootloader - you double-fail automagically
4. If you encrypt/sign the kernel - you triple-fail automagically

 

[NattyBee]

Keep in mind Toshiba:

1. If there is a skin on that UI - you fail automagically
2. If you don't update the tablet for the next 2 years - you fail automagically
3. If you lock the bootloader - you double-fail automagically
4. If you encrypt/sign the kernel - you triple-fail automagically

Automatically....

 

[spaz33g]

I have faith, if only for the fact that I might be able to get my paws on one.

tappin and a talkin

 

[Big Dawg 23]

I like Android but as of yet nothing competes with iPad 1. The Motorola Xoom may be close but iPad 2 just pasted it. Until they unlock Bootloader and Kernels it will be hard.

 

[spaz33g]

Well the xoom is unlockable and from a pure side by side comparison it looks better than the iPad 2 imho.

tappin and a talkin

 

[gadgetrants]

First impression...the Toshiba report is PR marketing hype. Here is my call at the moment...

Haven't we seen this before? Apple releases a pretty product that does what it is designed to do exceptionally well. Where it excels, in particular, is integrating device and content.

Then along comes competitor products, and typically they are (a) cheaper, (b) carrying more and better features, and (c) modifiable or at least customizable. AND STILL, SOMEHOW, the Apple product (i.e., iPod, iPhone) wins. WTF? (THANK GOD the exception to this is notebooks...imagined if the MacBook were as popular as the iPhone, and $999 were the starting pricepoint for notebooks...yikes).

I think the latest iteration of this story with tablets is pretty much the same, except that the better Android tablets are not competing price-wise yet. If you use the iPod and iPhone as historical examples, today's higher-end Android tablets need to be priced $400-$500 ($600 for all the bells and whistles) to compete, and that hasn't happened yet.

My fingers are still crossed, and I'm still hopeful that Android will win this fight. But the first few rounds go to Apple.

-Matt

 

[Sweettooth]

I think too many people are missing the point; the idea isn't to have one, all powerful device that nothing else can compete with. That's narrowminded thinking and you end up like one of those people who said a computer will never need any more than a few hundred MB. It creates a monopoly and a linear vision of what technological advancement means. Competition is what makes these devices great and what makes them keep getting better.

The iPad 1 or 2 and the XOOM or any other device are not duplicates, they are great devices on different networks and by different manufacturers with their own sets of unique features as well as all the ones consumers come to expect. In an ideal world, products made by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and everyone else should all have groundbreaking devices that way each is constantly at one another's throat trying to one up the other. You know what happens when they do that? WE WIN!

 

[kodiak799]

Unreal how people wait in line for the IPhone and IPad. Don't these people have jobs? You can't wait a week or two for when you can just walk in a store and pick one up in 15 minutes?

 

[DroidMastar2]

I think too many people are missing the point; the idea isn't to have one, all powerful device that nothing else can compete with. That's narrowminded thinking and you end up like one of those people who said a computer will never need any more than a few hundred MB. It creates a monopoly and a linear vision of what technological advancement means. Competition is what makes these devices great and what makes them keep getting better.

The iPad 1 or 2 and the XOOM or any other device are not duplicates, they are great devices on different networks and by different manufacturers with their own sets of unique features as well as all the ones consumers come to expect. In an ideal world, products made by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and everyone else should all have groundbreaking devices that way each is constantly at one another's throat trying to one up the other. You know what happens when they do that? WE WIN!

the ipad 1 and 2 and xoom are on the same network... Verizon.

 

[gadgetrants]

I think too many people are missing the point; the idea isn't to have one, all powerful device that nothing else can compete with. Competition is what makes these devices great and what makes them keep getting better.

I agree with your sentiment 100%, and I'm sorry my message implied an either-or world. I wonder, though, when a company (Apple) has a choke-hold on a market (tablets), whether your principle holds: what SHOULD happen is a proliferation of diverse devices, suited to different people's needs. Indeed, with Windows and HP/Palm tablets in the marketplace with Android and Apple, that diversity should occur.

In reality, though, what I'm afraid will happen is one product will predominate--and more or less set the standard for the "have to have" features--while the other devices will remain in a much smaller, secondary market. In that scenario, the competition will never really flourish.

-Matt

 

[kodiak799]

In reality, though, what I'm afraid will happen is one product will predominate--and more or less set the standard for the "have to have" features--while the other devices will remain in a much smaller, secondary market. In that scenario, the competition will never really flourish.

I don't think it will "dominate" per se, I'd expect a long-run game similar to what we are seeing with smartphones.

I realize the IPad wasn't the first tablet, but they made the market relevant. And you see this again and again in different industries - the first major player has nearly 100% share because it's pretty much the only player. Then more mfrs get in and that also helps create further demand, and they take share from the innovator even while the innovator continues to sell MORE devices on smaller share of a much larger market.

Ultimately I think it's all about the smartphone, anyway, with tablets and PC's just being dummy shells powered by your smartphone.

 

[NattyBee]

I think too many people are missing the point; the idea isn't to have one, all powerful device that nothing else can compete with. That's narrowminded thinking and you end up like one of those people who said a computer will never need any more than a few hundred MB. It creates a monopoly and a linear vision of what technological advancement means. Competition is what makes these devices great and what makes them keep getting better.

The iPad 1 or 2 and the XOOM or any other device are not duplicates, they are great devices on different networks and by different manufacturers with their own sets of unique features as well as all the ones consumers come to expect. In an ideal world, products made by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and everyone else should all have groundbreaking devices that way each is constantly at one another's throat trying to one up the other. You know what happens when they do that? WE WIN!

Indeed!

 

[ilikemoneygreen]

When will it be released? Im getting the first tegra device thats wifi only...Xoom will probably win. I want this device more though.

 

[JohnnytheK]

Keep in mind Toshiba:

1. If there is a skin on that UI - you fail automagically
2. If you don't update the tablet for the next 2 years - you fail automagically
3. If you lock the bootloader - you double-fail automagically
4. If you encrypt/sign the kernel - you triple-fail automagically

Automatically....

Uh, no it's "automagically" I'm fairly sure.