Rich Fiscus
14 Nov 2011 15:56
Retailers in the US appear to be preparing to capitalize on the wealth of smaller and cheaper Android tablets on the market to help spark sales on Black Friday.
It's hard to say whether that will ultimately be better for Android or Apple. There are a lot of cheap Android tablets, but there are reasons those tablets are cheap.
Companies like Amazon or Barnes & Noble can sell pretty good hardware for around the same price as it costs (less in Amazon's case) because they are using them to push other revenue streams. Those companies are the exception, not the rule.
If you want to gauge what a realistic price for a tablet being sold for profit instead of a sales tool, you should look at the models sold by Samsung or Asus, or newer Archos models. Tablets from those companies start at $300.
Looking through a list of Black Friday sale items, there are certainly some of those tablets represented, but there are also a few big deals likely to leave a bad impression on the buyer (via AndroidGuys):
If the cheapest tablets sell too well, it could end up being a net negative for Android. Cheap Android phones which live down to their price have sold more than a few iPhones.
A glut of cheap Android tablets could do the same for the iPad, particularly if Apple introduces a 7" version of their tablet as has been rumored.