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DABOSS

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Tablet Wars!

posted on Jun 15, 2010 05:13PM

Tablet Wars!

You know, we are all missing something. It’s the possibility of an Android or a MS-based tablet PC that can be used for IFE. Sure, the score is 2 million to almost nothing, but think about the possibility one year from now when the other operating system devices roll out. While Apple devices rule today for ancillary IFE, surely because of their almost flawless design and app availability. Sitting quietly on the sidelines is the “open” Android operating system from Google and it’s collection of thousands of apps, and from Microsoft, a future Windows 7 Mobile OS (or CE, or whatever). The point here is not to rush to judgement in favor of Apple products, but rather, think about the future of other devices that might potentially be more IFE friendly.

In a recent Retevo survey, 38% of respondents said that they didn’t need an Apple iPad while 53% said they would buy an Android-based tablet if it were cheaper than an iPad. Notably, 33% said they would get a an Android tablet if Verizon were the carrier, and 28% would get an Android tablet if it were part of a discounted subscription service. The message here is, Apple products have their detractors while price and phone carrier may be consumer drivers. No doubt, playing with an iPad certainly has airborne appeal, however, playing with connectivity apps on the ground is one thing, but 3 hours of Mahjong, Bookworm and Bejeweled in the air may not be everybody’s cup of tea.

Face it, Android mobile phones have outsold iPhones mostly because of price and carrier, however, on the tablet front Apple wins. Why? Think about it... they have finally become big enough to design/buy and build the hardware they need, while at the same time, designing the closed operating system around it and optimizing the chinese made device. This is something the bigger MS or Google folks should have done. But, sadly, MS has been asleep for 10 years and cannot seem to get a firm foothold in the hardware market. Meanwhile Google has had their eyes on everything but a tablet. The tablet PC (Can we call it a PC with the Android operating system?) may be the right product for IFE, if and when, it debuts. Slate or tablet vendors may be willing to
look more realistically at the IFE market, even going so far as working with movie houses to deliver early-window movies in their open systems, that support content encryption that studios approve. Further, issues such as sealed batteries and proprietary interfaces are not anticipated to be part of the new slate/tablet products. Lastly, there may even be some who might consider DO-160 qualification for the hardware if the imbedded market seems big enough.

Apple is certainly in the lead for passenger tablets, the devices really compete with most backseat products except possibly for size. When did any IFE vendor deliver a 9.7″ IFE hardware product that weighed 1 pound and cost $500? Sure IFE screens are bigger, but IFE is having a hard time competing with mobile entertainment because passengers don’t have to worry about things like certification, technical obsolescence, wide spectrum content offerings... not to mention a telephone, file viewer, contact list, radio, mobile TV, and almost anything you can do with a computer and your data. Understandably then, passengers carry on faster, better, mobile devices all with their own content because they are either expecting to pay for play on the plane or they will not get the entertainment experience they want. The move to iPad entertainment may come but it will be fraught with issues that might not be worth a tryst with Apple. If you have ever tried to connect to Apple for any other reason but to spend money, you know what we are talking about.

What may separate all the tablet vendors is the OS and it’s intended target audience. The iPad does a lot of things well for a lot of users while we expect the MS devices to major in business apps, onboard and in the “cloud”. The Android devices may focus on “cloud” applications but still be a business/gaming device. We have tried the iPad for business applications, processing images, printing documents and it seems that without a mouse, some tasks are much harder.

Finally, we don’t know what is on the front burner of HP, SONY, even Microsoft and Google, but one thing is sure, this war aint over.