This week, as ever, has been a battle for hearts and minds among the
big players in digital. Ahead of Apple’s big hardware announcement (more
on that later!), Google revealed an overhaul of
the Android Market, transforming it into Google Play and rationalising
their assets under one roof, looking to cement a fresh start going
forwards.
Last week at Mobile World Congress, Andy Rubin, Senior VP of Mobile
at Google, told reporters about their increased tablet focus: ‘2012 is
going to be the year that we double down and make sure we’re winning in
that space’. Despite Android being the most popular OS on smartphones,
the same success hasn’t come easily to their tabs. At this stage, there
are few Android tablet apps, very few good ones, and they are difficult
to find in the store.
The
unveiling of the ‘new iPad’ on Wednesday brought with it nothing
earth-shattering; evolutionary improvements including a
higher-resolution Retina display, a bigger A5X processor, a better
five-megapixel rear camera, and 4G LTE connectivity – which many
countries, including the UK, do not currently have the infrastructure to
support. Although it was definitely an anti-climax, the impressive
screen capabilities will allow for further advances in rich media
advertising.
Apple’s tablets have just
over 60% market share globally, leaving Google’s Android OS struggling
to compete in a saturated post-PC market. When the iPad was first
released in 2010, Apple already had users educated in iOS. The iPad 2
brought the perceived necessary
feature of a camera, and a flat back for typing, to what was already a
revolutionary product.
Apple sold more iPads in Q4 last year than any
computer manufacturer in the world sold PCs. Viewers of the press
conference were surprised to hear a direct attack on Samsung’s devices
from Tim Cook, as Apple has traditionally focused on its superiority
rather than others’ shortcomings. Samsung was quick to issue a rather
compelling response.
The iPad is likely, yet again, to be the fastest-selling piece of tech ever invented, with InMobi finding last
week that 1 in 3 US mobile web users intended to buy it. It will hit
stores across the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Japan
on 16th March, perhaps the most ambitious part of their plan.
The simultaneous price drop of
the iPad 2 will further choke competitors in the tablet space. Apple
has also made a change to the App Store that now offers catalogues their
own section, perhaps acknowledging the tablet’s impressive role in
mcommerce, and once again demonstrating their market leadership. Given
Windows 8 is now in beta, we are expecting Microsoft to level some kind
of ‘screen agnostic’ solutions soon. The jury is still out on whether
this is a feasible and viable competitor.
Apple has dealt another blow to Google, in the form of plans to drop their Maps service in favour of their own, just months after Google started charging
businesses for use… It seems very difficult for other developers to
overcome Apple’s dominance in the tablet market. And each tweak of
services, from Facebook to Amazon, is an attempt to inch ahead in the
great global tech race.
Written for Somo and first published here: http://www.somoglobal.com/news/our-week-in-mobile-google-play-vs-apples-ipad/
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