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Acer Rethinks the "Tablet Bubble," Launching $99 Tablet
retroworks writes "In August 2011, Acer Chairman JT Wang declared that the consumer affection for tablets had already begun to cool, basically labeling it a fad. What a difference a year (and a half) makes. Acer now plans to introduce a 'category killer' $99 tablet. 'In the past few months, we've made project roadmap changes in response to big changes in the tablet market,' according to a source at the Wall Street Journal. 'The launch of the Nexus 10 has changed the outlook for what makes competitive pricing.' Acer is aiming the new tablet at emerging markets, competing with Chinese 'white box' tablets (already available in Shenzhen at $45 each)."
I don't see how tablets are any different from netbooks. They're semi-useful devices that have a limited place but are outclassed by more capable machines which have been around for a long time. Acer may now be willing to get on the bandwagon for the sake of some short-term profits, but that doesn't make Mr. Wang's declaration any less correct.
would be those that run Linux instead of Android. Archos tablets support Angstrom Linux, but it would be better if one of the bigger OEMs such as Acer were o offer Linux tablets. Many more use cases and usage senarios would be possible then.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
These could actually make food testing devices for developers who want to ensure decent performance on cheaper devices (e.g., the no-name stuff that's sold at supermarkets).
Is this the Acer Iconia based on the Atom running Windows 8, or is it an Android/ARM based tablet?
Get your china-cheap tablet today, for $99.99, and tomorrow, get anotehr for $99.99 !!. Why so cheap ?? Because tomorrow you WILL need to buy another !!
Interesting the reverse is true. the iPad the most expensive device on the market six times more expensive than a better value tablet elsewhere, yet comes with proprietary software, hardware, with a shrinking market share...and no expandable storage. I object to that built in obsolescence, but ironically it only happens on overpriced electronics. Its [one of the many] why I think Apple is unhealthy right now, and Android is doing so incredibly well.
It's a shame you can't get a keyboard to go on the back of these surface devices. Starting with V, C, X, Z, etc. down the back left, and a couple of space buttons each side, but on the front.
Who ordered that?
Tablets and smartphones are getting good enough. It's the same process the PC underwent but much faster: Hardware progresses to a point that 90% of applications run plenty fast so the average person doesn't need to change them very often unless it breaks. Together with the maturity of the OS these devices use I think the exponential growth phase is gonna end soon.
Moreover, it seems the cheap tablets are getting good enough too so it looks that making expensive tablets it's not gonna be a great business plan.
Anyway, it looks that it'll affect expensive android tablet manufacturers more since Apple looks comfortable in the different and pricier-but-better market niche. This also mirrors the PC history.
Well, stylus input may be slower than a good keyboard, but at least it's prone to being either unreadable, or needing lots of error correction if converted into text.
Efficiency!
Meanwhile all websites are now getting the stupid, slow, flash-based limited Fisher-Price interfaces that we all used to complain about just a short time ago...
But now we're so enamored of them we want all to be like them. So more and more I face websites on my 24" screen that are simply navigation screens each with two buttons, eleventy-gazillion levels deep.
Tablets are making the web experience like the phone-hold experience.
"Press one if you have any of the following problems..."
"Press 2 to go to the preceding menu options."
This space available.
I find it funny that people - then again the inmates are still running the asylum in tech land - still make fad claims or make the comparisons with netbooks.
I found netbooks clumsy devices because of the small (lower res) screens and the small ficky keyboards. Even today I still don't see any good use for them.
Tablets on the other hand are mostly content consuming* devices and regarding their usefulness in that regards, they are miles away from more PC. Hell they are not even on the same planet. For surfing/reading/... from my coach, on the train,.. I would pick a tablet over a laptop on any day. Hell if I'm in the same room as my PC and I have the tablet at hand, I mostly will pick up the second one.
* I'm gonna let you into a little secret most of the population don't use computers to create content... .
would be those that run Linux instead of Android. Archos tablets support Angstrom Linux, but it would be better if one of the bigger OEMs such as Acer were o offer Linux tablets. Many more use cases and usage senarios would be possible then.
Microsoft successfully derailed Linux on the netbooks, and killed meego by killing Nokia; costing them Billions. Microsoft have been incredibly successful in not letting GNU/Linux win. Its kind of sad as all that has happened is they have been made irrelevant by the "pack of four".
The reality is GNU/Linux [if I can call that today], will survive, due to its open nature. I'm personally looking forward to running Android applications on my new touchscreen Chromebook running Debian [one of its derivatives].
I too welcome the next eight years being heralded as "the Year of the Linux Tablet", after all of the success of Linux on the desktop.
Linux is already becoming the dominant platform on the tablet, as it did on the smart-phone. The truth is Andorid is becoming the next dominant platform. Your post dates back to a time when computing was about Microsoft and its monopoly due to inertia. Those days are gone...we now talk about the "pack of four", and well Microsoft is not in it. That is not to say I don't want more GNU on my tablet, but we are seeing signs of that everywhere from Tizen; KDE; Ubuntu etc etc.
Your out of date.
A friend uses his for his work to program in java, and even he says he doesn't 'need' his computer so much now. And these tablets will just get more capable and cheaper (and bendable?) in the coming years, until they one day (gasp!) completely replace todays standard computers.
I can't deny their popularity but I really don't understand it.
I've got a Nexus 7 sitting a few inches away. I play my tower defence game on it occasionally but it's not really any better than playing it on my phone. I don't read books on it - it's so much heavier and tougher on the eyes than my kindle. The one hope I had was comics - but I'm still working on that. The one that I've downloaded from Amazon is impossible to read in the kindle app. (When it 'zooms' panels it's not nearly enough to make the text legible.)
If I am going to be going on a long trip I can see where it would be handy there. It will be better for watching shows than my phone, a little more convenient than my laptop. Though the lack of storage space limits how much media I'll be able to put on it.
The reason I have it is for testing some software we'll be using down the road. People will basically 'sign up' for stuff in person, using the tablet to enter their data rather than filling out cards. When we've used cards - it's labor intensive and their are lots of errors getting the information entered into other systems.
But around the house, on the couch, in the kitchen - I just grab a laptop. Easier to hold, easier to surf, all that stuff.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
I have yet to meet anyone who has gotten a tablet for any kinds of real reason other than a toy. Now that's fine, nothing wrong with toys, but everyone I know who has gotten a tablet already has a laptop and smartphone, and they've kept the laptop and smartphone after getting it, and kept using them.
Those would be what tablets would replace. The argument seems to be that you don't need a laptop, a tablet will do fine, so you get one instead of your laptop. Another argument could be that a laptop isn't portable enough but a tablet is, so you can take it with you and thus don't need a smart phone, just a regular one.
However in actual practice, nobody seems to do that. They have a laptop and a tablet, and a smartphone.
I'm still not convinced tablets are here to stay. They seem to be fancy toys and status symbols right now (really there's an iPad market, not a tablet market) and little in the way of actual use. I could well see them dying off and people continuing to use laptops and smartphones.
That's why I don't have one: I asked myself where I would use a tablet that I wouldn't rather use my laptop or smartphone and I can't come up with an answer. I don't want it enough just as a toy.
Mainstream devices like the Pi? You talking about the Raspberry Pi? Mainstream?
Good advice for general people is to watch more then Fox, lest their brains rot away. In the same vein, read something else but Slashdot. If you think the Pi is a mainstream device you got three options:
In extreme cases, all three might apply.
The Raspberry Pi is hard to get hold of, even harder to use and comes with barely enough resources to run even the most basic OS. But SOMEHOW this device will magically make it into the homes of the average person who can't afford a cheap desktop BUT does have a HDMI capable TV with a spare port to hook it up to...
The INSANITY of all this is astounding, it shows tupe666 has lost all touch with reality, he lives in a fantasy world were a device that takes anywhere from several weeks to several months to be delivered, can only be ordered online and requires advanced linux skill to even be outfitted with a serviceable user friendly OS is installed in millions of homes world-wide. And that this extremely underpowered device is the same as a "hi-priced" PC, god even knows what that might be. If you think a Raspberry Pi is as functional as even a cheap PC, you just don't have a clue. I love Linux as much as the next guy but WIndows IS the mainstream OS and the Raspberry Pi can't run that so it loses out right there.
There is room in the world for PC alternatives but the simple fact remains that the PC setup, large keyboard, monitor at eye height, flat large desk, office chair, mouse is the most comfortable way to CREATE content. For consuming content, the TV is most comfortable. A tablet is a high awkward device for either. When sitting at a desk creating content it is a usability nightmare, the only people who think it is good are those who work on laptops and 20 years from now will complain about their backs non-stop.
If you really want to see what mainstream is, go to youtube and see what people use who put up cat videos. A 5 year old dell they got from someone cheap and a CRT monitor that they can't see any point in replacing with a 100 dollar LCD screen. That is what is mainstream NOT a geek gadget.
Tablets like the iPad sell millions it is true but that is a planet with 7 billion people and many a iPad 3 is owned by a person with an iPad2 etc lying in the closet. You can easily see this with google statistics, what percentage visits a site with iOS? A small amount and it gets smaller the more mainstream a site is. And web browsing is ONE thing tablets are actually good at.
But hey, I am willing to eat my words. tuppe666 only has to publish his address so someone can go and take his PC and give him a Raspberry Pi, 5 dollar keyboard and a TV and THAT IS IT! Wanna bet he won't take that deal? Wanna bet NOBODY on Slashdot will?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Where did you post this message from?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
There can be a need for portable computing in your life. This is NOT the same as on the move computing but rather where you wish to have the same enviroment at several static locations. The trick is here to remember that no sane person works on a laptop. Your screen got to be higher up to be comfortable and your keyboard lower, flatter and bigger. So... you instead plug it into your laptop stand, link it via say Synergy and use it as an extra screen with your own environment.
For others, a netbook is a very storable PC. A lot of people don't really want a computer taking up space constantly when they only use it for a short time. A netbook is easily taken out, read mail, browse then stored away again out of the way.
These aren't high tech needs, they could be done with anything but a netbook is just the right balance between being somewhat useful as a full PC and not taking up as much space/weighing/costing.
Oh and I am going to let you in on a little secret. Most of the population DOES use computers to create content. This message is content and is far faster to type on a normal keyboard then a touchscreen. Cat videos are content, facebook pages are content, diary entries are content.
Another little secret, when I want to passively consume content, the TV is far far far easier then any tablet. And I don't need to hold it in my hand the entire time.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I can say with certainty that the tablet revolution is just beginning. The simple truth is that a huge amount of home users don't REALLY want a PC. They think they want a PC, but they really don't. They want a machine that is cheap, gets them on Facebook, has a video/audio player, a web browser, email and Skype and is as low maintainance as possible. It's true that tablets are spectacularly bad productivity devices, they are mostly consumption devices. The thing is, the vast majority of home users are pure consumers and couldn't give 2 shits about productivity applications.
Most tablets lack what an analog of a clipboard needs - a good digitizer instead of finger-oriented touchscreen. If I'm going to take notes in a meeting, I'd much prefer a keyboard, tyvm.
I can see tablets as useful in the workspace when they're in hands of a warehouse worker or automechanic or a doctor (given, again, a good digitizer or voice recognition) or a lot of other jobs with lots of walking and/or only needing a reference, but meeting or any other office job? That'd be just fashion statement.
In a meeting, a tablet is an opportunity to have all your important documents at your fingertips, plus a place to take quick notes. Done well, it can be tidy, convenient, and less distracting than folders and notebooks and stuff. Done poorly, of course, it's like anything else done poorly.
Apples market share is not shrinking when you consider real tablet usage.
That does not even make sense. We have Apple launching a last generation device like the iPad mini [low resolution; low memory; old CPU] at twice the than of established competitors like the Nexus 7 [High resolution, new CPU] with standard connectors....yadda yadda yadda, and we are expected to believe they are not being used [rolls eyes].
The reality of Apple is they needed to to compete with both cost and innovation, they failed on both accounts [across all their product lines] and their stocks are taking a battering as a result, bullshit on forum discussions is not going to change that.
While Intel and Microsoft may have crippled what is a great portable form factor, I personally loved my netbook. Granted, I doubled the RAM and installed LinuxMint (thus making the unit useable.) My little cheap gateway lived under the seat of my truck, used to access the interwebs from the road, and as a tool, typing up invoices, ordering parts, and as a high quality vehicle diagnostic tool. I personally liked that setup better than a more capable and higher speced 14 inch lenovo laptop. The netbook had a better battery life, and didnt take up as much room in an already cramped cab. And really, not everyone needs a system with HDMI, touchscreen, or the latest and greatest battery draining processor. Sometimes just enough is more than enough. (BTW, you can still get the same, slightly updated Gateway LT netbook at walmart for about $200. for what i was using it for, one hell of a steal)
my comment was based on Linux over Android on the tablet.
And an irrelevant one [seriously semantics!?]. That's the point sweetness. Microsoft put an extraordinary amount of time and effort into ensuring that GPL did not get a hold on the Desktop, so lost control of the OS market, Android is set to eclipse Microsoft Market share as early as next year.
However you spin it, There is no Office, Direct X, Binary Compatibility, on a platform that shares a kernel [not exactly, but benefits from] with the Desktop [GNU/Liunux if you insist] I'm using...and is the dominant platform. The fact that is not all GNU :) is something I'm not going to lose sleep over, but will be keeping an eye on project like Tizen; KDE; Ubuntu to see what they are doing in the mobile space [I'm pretty much sold on the first of these that offers binary compatibility with Android].
Your desperate to paint the loser Microsoft into having any kind of relevance, in a topic where it is considered a joke, and has a business model that does not fit with a $99 tablet. [I've ignored Apple as they seem to want to occupy the same niche they did in the PC market, and that worked out really badly.]
can be jailbroken
Your use of the "jailbroken" term rather than "sideloading" implies that you use iOS, where "jailbreak" is the more common term, rather than Android, where "sideloading" is the more common term. Did I guess correctly? And if I did, since when was a jailbreak for the iPad 4 released that isn't fake?
can be used to remote view desktop
Provided you're within Wi-Fi range. Otherwise, such as if you try to use it while riding public transit or in an establishment where the wireless password is for employees only, you're limited to applications that have been ported to the tablet.
can be used as a graphics tablet
I thought the finger-operated capacitive multitouch screens in popular tablets didn't have near the precision that the user of even a cheap Wacom tablet expects. What am I missing?
can be used for quick planning of characters, worlds, levels, architecture, electronics and other such things
Which applications do you recommend for that?
can be used to write down some notes, programming stuff
I choose to carry a 10" laptop instead of a tablet because I can actually test the programming stuff while I ride the bus to and from work. You seem to have recognized this, as you too carry one.
Maybe even after writing a few scripts for touchscreen controls, play a good bunch of games that don't require much precision or speed with the mouse.
Provided that they're ported to the tablet. And if you wanted to play a game like Mega Man, how would you map its controls?
There are plenty of tablets under $99 on Alibaba, and even on Amazon. Finally, a major brand gets into it.
The main problem is that Acer is also a PC manufacturer, and thus vulnerable to pressure from Microsoft. That pressure is why both Asus and Dell introduced, then withdrew, Linux machines, and why the major brands went along with Microsoft's upper limit on XP-based netbook hardware. Many of the smaller tablet manufacturers have no Microsoft involvement, and are thus in a good position to ignore Microsoft's desire to keep a higher price point.
Android is for second-rate iPad and iPhone knockoffs.
Except any bullshit or distortion field Apple once had...isn't working. Apple need to break into a new market or re-reinvent its current market. Its 30% decline is shares reflect its failure to innovate. Its literation is actually damaging its brand and people are starting to question its value. Its market share for phones has dropped 23% down to 14.9% and its market-share in tablet dropped again hitting 50% both with downward trends; Fresh of the largest product refresh in its history.
The bottom line is Anonymous Coward throwing mud at the more successful platform makes Apple continue to look weak and vulnerable; Apple are innovating less than the nimbler than Google [...and Samsung, Lenovo, HTC, Huawei, ZTE, Acer, Asus, LG, Sony....]. IMHO their whole business strategy of putting profits before everything else is suddenly not working out :)...but on topic the Apple mini retails for $329 and already looks overpriced compared to the better specced, and arguably better software of the Nexus 7 that launched 6 months ago at $156; how is it going to look against $99. In context of this thread...Apples best years are behind it :p.
Acer understands.
Tablets are an accessory. They are an extension of a desktop. They are not desktop computers, they are not laptops. They are NOT here to replace those. And you don't want to spend $500+ on an accessory for your computer.
Acer also understands that people don't need/want a cell phone data plan for their tablet. We got wifi, it's more then good enough.
Provided the FCC allows Acer to sell these in the USA (this article didn't say it, but another article i read about it did say the FCC hadn't approved those yet, here's the article: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/12/24/acer-plans-to-launch-99-tablet/)
But of course, it's about the consumers, isn't it? Is cheap good enough, or will cries of "it's not an iPad" ruin it's run?
I'd rather have a 10" to 12" screen myself, so hoping this plays out well.
Be seeing you...