Google might be on to something here. Nexus 7 is sold out in Sweden, both online and bricks & mortar. Well, except for some shop north of Stockholm.

I wonder if it is a loss leader for them.

I got my Tab today. It's always so much fun to have something new to play with. It's the perfect size for what I plan to use it for, and I'm happy that it will fit neatly in my handbag (without adding a lot of extra weight).

I'm not sure how much I will be using my iPad now. Sorry, Apple.*

* I'm not really sorry.

.

I wonder if Apple are making the same mistakes they made last time round with the Mac. Closed OS running only on their own ridiculously expensive hardware.

Then Google comes along with Android, and lets anybody produce Android compatible hardware.

Google is the new Microsoft? Apple to be insignificant again within 10 years?

It seems like everybody else is doing this locked down, only buy from us thing, because everyone's trying to copy the Apple model now. I would love it if all these people (Apple, the new MS, Amazon, etc etc) went bust and the companies that opted for the pro-open-source, allow-people-to-have-options model succeeded.

Bryaniek wrote:

I'm not sure the situations are wholly comparable.

I write as someone who was a Mac user in the late 90s. Yes, they were really expensive, but their problems also included underwhelming hardware, an OS that had gone stale and a product that businesses weren't generally interested in.

Don't forget that in the 90s Apple licensed Mac clones running MacOS.

Stumpy Pepys wrote:


I also used Macs then. By the late 90s Microsoft had already long won and Apple was seriously up shit creek. They licensed the clones well after the ship had sailed, that was the problem. Microsoft, from the very beginning, allowed anyone to build a computer and stick their software on it. Similar to what Google are doing now.

Now that Apple run on Intel, they could easily release MacOS for the PC and potentially destroy Microsoft. I often wonder why they don't do it. But then I look around at all the young uni students with their MacBook Airs and I realise they couldn't care less what OS they are running. They are paying for the brushed aluminium casing with the glowing white Apple.

Difference is though, Apple don't make that much money from computers and laptops anymore — they only account for ten per cent of revenue.

What they are making a ton of money from are devices — iPhones and iPads (and formerly iPods). Even with a smallish market share, they've managed to convince people that they should pay $400 for a device that cost $200 to make.

That's because marketing makes people think that iPads and iPhones are magic. And they are still new and magical products, just like dishwashers and televisions were once apon a time. But what happens in 10 years from now when a smartphone and a tablet phone becomes a run of the mill product? Do you plump for the expensive iPad, or the cheaper Android device that does exactly the same thing? Apple is making more money now while everything is still new and shiny, but Google have proven, throughout their short existance, at being very good at playing the long game.

Something is wrong with me. I'm second guessing my decision to buy this tablet. I'm not even enjoying it as much as I should be.

What is happening to me?? Have I grown up, or is the Galaxy Tab just that underwhelming?

So it`s not as shiny and magical as the Apple version?

Bryaniek wrote:


Google hasn`t done much (yet) in the consumer products arena.

It's not just the shininess, though is it? Apple were streets ahead in interaction design.

I wasn't looking for much, really, just a way to play the little games I like to play before falling asleep at night (mostly Zynga games, Words with Friends, etc). I was only able to find two of the four available for Android. And those two were only available in the 'free' versions.

I don't know why I had assumed that all of them would be available BY NOW, because it's not like Android devices just hit the market yesterday. It's not like I'm looking for some obscure app that no one uses. I know Zynga are making a killing on those apps, because they keep buying up new games left and right. Surely it's in their best business interest to release all of their games for other platforms. Or is the problem on the Google side? I don't know, but it's annoying.

Oh well, I can always use it for the other thing I wanted it to be--an e-reader.

linus wrote:


There are many more smartphones running Android than iOS.

Femme Folle wrote:


But otherwise, as a web browser it works? And to play movie files and music and to listen to radio, and that sort of stuff? That's mainly what I was thinking to buy a tablet for. The laptop is too clunky to bring around the house for that kind of stuff. Well, I do have a five year old laptop that resembles a brick. It has now become a desktop permanently docked to a screen and keyboard.

Bryaniek wrote:

Should be fine, but 7" is too small for viewing full-size web pages. I've always considered 9" is the minimum for browsing without having to zoom in and out.

Bryaniek wrote:


Well, yes, they are in Microsoft`s position, having established their OS standard, but like Microsoft, they haven`t yet made the transition into the consumer product sphere. MS has tried but mostly failed (think Zune...)

Stumpy Pepys wrote:


Functionality wise, it's great, but like SP said, a little on the small side for some things. I'm glad I still have my iPad for those times that I want a larger screen.

If I did not have an iPad, I probably would have bought a 10" Tab instead of the 7". I think the 7" will make an excellent e-reader, and as I said earlier, I can stick it in my handbag without making it weigh a tonne.

This is the first thing that I've done with my new Surface. It's not too bad...

For that price, it should be a lot better than "not too bad".