Nvidia Says Honeycomb Isn't Sweet Enough To Overcome Point-of-Sale Problems - The UpStream

Nvidia Says Honeycomb Isn't Sweet Enough To Overcome Point-of-Sale Problems

posted Sunday May 22, 2011 by Jon Wurm

Nvidia Says Honeycomb Isn't Sweet Enough To Overcome Point-of-Sale Problems

There have been a couple Android tablets that have hit the market so far like the Galaxy Tab and the Xoom but none of them have really made an impact compared to the iPad. Motorola released sales figures for April of this year that suggested they shipped 250,000 Xoom units but in fact that number is much lower. Sanjay Jha, the CEO of Motorola Mobility, commented in an earnings call that part of the problem is that there aren't enough apps for Android. Of course, there is no way that could be the full story and Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang does a good job shedding some light on the real issues.

Basically he sees the poor adoption rate as point-of-sale problems regarding marketing, price point, and retail expertise coupled with a "software richness of content problem." He highlighted the fact that most baseline models come with 3G when they should focus on WiFi instead. That speaks to the price point issue and makes sense because tablets are secondary consumption devices compared to laptops and smartphones. Odds are you're already paying for monthly data services for both of those devices as it is. Being required to activate another data plan is part of the reason why 3G activation rates for tablet devices is so low. There should definitely be another model for those who want the 3G with their tablet.

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.

Find out what Jen-Hsun has to say about the future of Android tablets by hitting the break.

While he didn't expand on the software richness problem I would imagine he wasn't referring to the unavailability of apps but more in regards to inconsistent user experiences caused by fragmentation. This would also attribute to some of the retail expertise problems they are experiencing. When an Android tablet isn't always and Android tablet, how do you train your sales people to sell Android tablets?

No one really knows what to expect from one model to the next and one manufacturer to another. He does credit part of the iPads success to Apple having solved these problems and thinks they will enjoy their advantage for a while longer but is excited about the advances Android tablets are making and believes the challenges can be overcome. That's a good outlook to have seeing as their Terga 2 stands to be assimilated into more than just the Xoom and Galaxy Tab 10.1.

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