From a new headline-grabbing iPad to the timely arrival of droves of rivals, all with their own unique features, 2011 has, as expected, seen the touchscreen tablet market explode. Time for a quick round-up of this year's top tablets and most spectacular flops.
At the beginning of 2011, many analysts were predicting a year of huge growth in the touchscreen tablet market, with just over 50 million unit sales expected and with Apple iPad remaining undisputed leader in terms of both media hype and sales figures. Although such predictions made for a pretty optimistic increase on the 17 million tablets sold in 2010 when Apple held 86% of the market share, the analysts have ultimately had to adjust their predictions slightly, as nearer 63 million tablets were actually sold this year!*
Faced with fierce competition from the arrival of Android Honeycomb—Google's first tablet-specific OS—at the end of 2010, many thought that Apple would see its market share eaten away. The Cupertino tech firm struck back, however, orchestrating a new media coup with the iPad 2, which replaced the original iPad as the leader of the pack with a 73.4% market share! Android isn't too far behind though, clocking up just over 11 million new users over the course of the year. The platform's success has largely been carried by the likes of Samsung and Asus, even though their products are very different and ultimately rivals.
With so many models out there now, we thought it was time for a quick round-up of the winners and losers from the 2011 touchscreen tablet market.
TOP TABLETS 2011
Asus Finds Its Niche
Is it a tablet? Is it a netbook? Why, it's both, it's the Asus EeePad Transformer! Asus has managed to stand out from the crowd of identikit Android tablets by approaching the product from a very different angle. In fact, the Asus Transformer has taken on both the tablet and netbook markets with a hybrid product that's the ultimate in-betweener for users having trouble making their minds up.
The EeePad Transformer (and the imminent Transformer Prime) consists of a well-made and well-designed Android tablet that slots into a keyboard dock. As well as serving as a handy stand and a physical keyboard for the tablet, the dock also features USB ports and an extra battery. Wider stock availability would be the icing on the cake!
Apple iPad Still Going Strong
With over 40 million iPad 2 sales expected by the end of the year and a total of almost 60 million iPads sold to date, Apple has managed to re-affirm its place as market leader and ward off competition from the dozens of rivals that have sprung up over the course of 2011. With a new version of Apple's iOS operating system (iOS 5.0) released to bring the tablet back in line with the competition and an iPad 3 no doubt be coming soon, Apple is pretty much sure to stay one step ahead of the game.
Something For Everyone At Samsung
Roll up, roll up, there's something for everyone with Samsung's touchscreen tablets! That's right, the Samsung Galaxy Tab comes in 7-inch, 7.7-inch, 8.9-inch and 10.1-inch versions—you could even say that Samsung sells a 5.3-inch tablet if you count the Galaxy Note hybrid smartphone-turned-tablet.
The Galaxy Tab has therefore stormed its way into the market with a huge choice of products that are all based on the same simple but effective formula—a bit of Android, a dash of TouchWiz, a sprinkling of apps and exclusive services, all topped off with a great multimedia player.
It's just a shame that Samsung seems intent on trying to 'do an Apple' by equipping its tablets with a proprietary connection and not allowing users to expand the memory.
TABLET FLOPS 2011
Fusion Garage: A Bad Start For A Good Idea
After the disappointing JooJoo tablet—which packed a relatively interesting OS into a largely outdated product—Fusion Garage was adamant it would return to the tablet market. A year down the line, the Singapore-based firm was indeed back with a new concept, the Grid-10, a 10.1-inch tablet with an OS based on the Android kernel but with a completely redesigned interface. It looked like something straight out of a sci-fi film!
A pre-release model was first of all sent to the good people at Engadget who weren't exactly enthusiastic about the Grid-10. Fusion Garage then took the tablet back for debugging, and we never heard another thing about it. From the look of the Fusion Garage website, the tablet seems to be available in the US and the UK (no other countries), although the site still carries the message 'we are currently accepting pre-orders in the U.K. Your order will not be charged until we are ready to ship. We begin shipping on 24th October 2011' which isn't exactly reassuring. Similarly, the product is 'currently unavailable' on supposed partner seller Amazon's US website and isn't even listed on Amazon UK.
TouchPad/webOS: End Of The Line
The webOS operating system was written off as inevitable collateral damage when HP announced its withdrawal from the mobile device market (TouchPad, Pre3 etc.). We, however, can't help thinking that that this interesting interface deserved better—although clear and user-friendly, webOS never seemed to find the right vehicle for its talents. After maintaining webOS principally to keep those products and services already sold up and running, HP finally announced that webOS was to continue life as an open source OS.
As for the TouchPad, HP slashed the price of its tablet back in August down to an irresistibly low £90, hoping to shift as much remaining stock as possible. Ironically, this brought a much-needed boost to TouchPad sales, with 800,000 tablets sold in the US in less than a week after the price drop, and almost 2 million tablets sold worldwide after just a few weeks at its new bargain price. At least the TouchPad bowed out of the game with its head held high!
BlackBerry PlayBook (Among Others!): Disappointment For RIM
With barely 900,000 tablets sold since spring 2011 and a $485 million write-down incurred, the BlackBerry PlayBook can hardly be considered a success. With its market share in smartphones already trickling away and repeated server woes in the autumn, the PlayBook is like the poisoned cherry on RIM's already sour cake. The tablet itself was actually pretty good, but the fact it had to be used in conjunction with a smartphone was a seriously major downside. The Canadian telecoms firm isn't admitting defeat just yet though, and is promising a major firmware update for early 2012 in the hope of saving at least some face.
A 3G Tablet? Hmmmm ...
Sales of 3G tablets in general have failed to take off in the same way as Wi-Fi-only models—even sales of Apple's two different iPads have confirmed the trend. Some users have been put off 3G models by their relatively high retail prices, as they often cost a good £100 more than a Wi-Fi model with the same amount of memory. Plus, with more and more Wi-Fi hotspots cropping up in public places and the extra cost incurred by 3D data plans, it's hardly surprising that Wi-Fi-only tablets are proving more popular.
Cereal Box 3D From LG
Back in late 2010 when the tablet market was just taking off, LG was busy hyping up its forthcoming 3D Android tablet. We were impatient, we were excited and the fledgling tablet market was quaking in its boots at the very idea. Then came the Mobile World Congress in February 2011 when we were promised not only glimpses, but also hands-on action with this incredible, ultra-high-tech product. But right up to a few minutes before the official presentation, there was still plenty of speculation as to whether LG's tablet would use glasses-free 3D or whether it would have a passive 3D screen with glasses. And then LG burst its very own bubble in one fell swoop.
Sock! Horror! The Optimus Pad had an anaglyph 3D display in red and blue, as well as a 3D camera for filming (and playing back) both anaglyph and poor-quality side-by-side 3D images. It was a disappointment that pretty much no-one saw coming, and the rather ambitious launch price of around £750 only served to put people even further off the LG Optimus Pad. However, one major advantage of the anaglyph screen was that you could still use those trusty old 3D glasses you cut out of the back of a Corn Flakes packet in 1988.
* Source: Cabinet Gartner
Faced with fierce competition from the arrival of Android Honeycomb—Google's first tablet-specific OS—at the end of 2010, many thought that Apple would see its market share eaten away. The Cupertino tech firm struck back, however, orchestrating a new media coup with the iPad 2, which replaced the original iPad as the leader of the pack with a 73.4% market share! Android isn't too far behind though, clocking up just over 11 million new users over the course of the year. The platform's success has largely been carried by the likes of Samsung and Asus, even though their products are very different and ultimately rivals.
With so many models out there now, we thought it was time for a quick round-up of the winners and losers from the 2011 touchscreen tablet market.
TOP TABLETS 2011
Asus Finds Its Niche
Is it a tablet? Is it a netbook? Why, it's both, it's the Asus EeePad Transformer! Asus has managed to stand out from the crowd of identikit Android tablets by approaching the product from a very different angle. In fact, the Asus Transformer has taken on both the tablet and netbook markets with a hybrid product that's the ultimate in-betweener for users having trouble making their minds up.
The EeePad Transformer (and the imminent Transformer Prime) consists of a well-made and well-designed Android tablet that slots into a keyboard dock. As well as serving as a handy stand and a physical keyboard for the tablet, the dock also features USB ports and an extra battery. Wider stock availability would be the icing on the cake!
Apple iPad Still Going Strong
With over 40 million iPad 2 sales expected by the end of the year and a total of almost 60 million iPads sold to date, Apple has managed to re-affirm its place as market leader and ward off competition from the dozens of rivals that have sprung up over the course of 2011. With a new version of Apple's iOS operating system (iOS 5.0) released to bring the tablet back in line with the competition and an iPad 3 no doubt be coming soon, Apple is pretty much sure to stay one step ahead of the game.
Something For Everyone At Samsung
Roll up, roll up, there's something for everyone with Samsung's touchscreen tablets! That's right, the Samsung Galaxy Tab comes in 7-inch, 7.7-inch, 8.9-inch and 10.1-inch versions—you could even say that Samsung sells a 5.3-inch tablet if you count the Galaxy Note hybrid smartphone-turned-tablet.
The Galaxy Tab has therefore stormed its way into the market with a huge choice of products that are all based on the same simple but effective formula—a bit of Android, a dash of TouchWiz, a sprinkling of apps and exclusive services, all topped off with a great multimedia player.
It's just a shame that Samsung seems intent on trying to 'do an Apple' by equipping its tablets with a proprietary connection and not allowing users to expand the memory.
TABLET FLOPS 2011
Fusion Garage: A Bad Start For A Good Idea
After the disappointing JooJoo tablet—which packed a relatively interesting OS into a largely outdated product—Fusion Garage was adamant it would return to the tablet market. A year down the line, the Singapore-based firm was indeed back with a new concept, the Grid-10, a 10.1-inch tablet with an OS based on the Android kernel but with a completely redesigned interface. It looked like something straight out of a sci-fi film!
A pre-release model was first of all sent to the good people at Engadget who weren't exactly enthusiastic about the Grid-10. Fusion Garage then took the tablet back for debugging, and we never heard another thing about it. From the look of the Fusion Garage website, the tablet seems to be available in the US and the UK (no other countries), although the site still carries the message 'we are currently accepting pre-orders in the U.K. Your order will not be charged until we are ready to ship. We begin shipping on 24th October 2011' which isn't exactly reassuring. Similarly, the product is 'currently unavailable' on supposed partner seller Amazon's US website and isn't even listed on Amazon UK.
TouchPad/webOS: End Of The Line
The webOS operating system was written off as inevitable collateral damage when HP announced its withdrawal from the mobile device market (TouchPad, Pre3 etc.). We, however, can't help thinking that that this interesting interface deserved better—although clear and user-friendly, webOS never seemed to find the right vehicle for its talents. After maintaining webOS principally to keep those products and services already sold up and running, HP finally announced that webOS was to continue life as an open source OS.
As for the TouchPad, HP slashed the price of its tablet back in August down to an irresistibly low £90, hoping to shift as much remaining stock as possible. Ironically, this brought a much-needed boost to TouchPad sales, with 800,000 tablets sold in the US in less than a week after the price drop, and almost 2 million tablets sold worldwide after just a few weeks at its new bargain price. At least the TouchPad bowed out of the game with its head held high!
BlackBerry PlayBook (Among Others!): Disappointment For RIM
With barely 900,000 tablets sold since spring 2011 and a $485 million write-down incurred, the BlackBerry PlayBook can hardly be considered a success. With its market share in smartphones already trickling away and repeated server woes in the autumn, the PlayBook is like the poisoned cherry on RIM's already sour cake. The tablet itself was actually pretty good, but the fact it had to be used in conjunction with a smartphone was a seriously major downside. The Canadian telecoms firm isn't admitting defeat just yet though, and is promising a major firmware update for early 2012 in the hope of saving at least some face.
A 3G Tablet? Hmmmm ...
Sales of 3G tablets in general have failed to take off in the same way as Wi-Fi-only models—even sales of Apple's two different iPads have confirmed the trend. Some users have been put off 3G models by their relatively high retail prices, as they often cost a good £100 more than a Wi-Fi model with the same amount of memory. Plus, with more and more Wi-Fi hotspots cropping up in public places and the extra cost incurred by 3D data plans, it's hardly surprising that Wi-Fi-only tablets are proving more popular.
Cereal Box 3D From LG
Back in late 2010 when the tablet market was just taking off, LG was busy hyping up its forthcoming 3D Android tablet. We were impatient, we were excited and the fledgling tablet market was quaking in its boots at the very idea. Then came the Mobile World Congress in February 2011 when we were promised not only glimpses, but also hands-on action with this incredible, ultra-high-tech product. But right up to a few minutes before the official presentation, there was still plenty of speculation as to whether LG's tablet would use glasses-free 3D or whether it would have a passive 3D screen with glasses. And then LG burst its very own bubble in one fell swoop.
Sock! Horror! The Optimus Pad had an anaglyph 3D display in red and blue, as well as a 3D camera for filming (and playing back) both anaglyph and poor-quality side-by-side 3D images. It was a disappointment that pretty much no-one saw coming, and the rather ambitious launch price of around £750 only served to put people even further off the LG Optimus Pad. However, one major advantage of the anaglyph screen was that you could still use those trusty old 3D glasses you cut out of the back of a Corn Flakes packet in 1988.
* Source: Cabinet Gartner
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