Tablet

What tablets can learn from the iPod wars

The iPad is to tablets what the iPod was to MP3 players. I think that's safe to say now, right? I mean, here we are again with Apple churning out a runaway hit that defies logical, practical buying habits and ranks up there with cultural phenomena like Beanie Babies and Snuggies.

Still, when I hear people compare the iPad's success with the iPod's, something doesn't sit quite right with me. As someone who lived through the iPod wars and spent an unhealthy amount of time analyzing them, I feel obligated to drill past the superficial similarities of the iPod and iPad eras, and really see if they're as similar as we think.

So let's take a trip down memory lane, look at the iPod wars for what they really were, and see if history is really repeating itself.

The windup

As many of you know, Apple wasn't the first company to make an MP3 player or a tablet. By the time the iPod came on the scene in 2001, products like the MPman had already been on the market for three years. The market was small, though, and only early adopters and die-hard music nuts were scooping them up. To Apple's credit, it was the first large company to really step into the MP3 player space (far ahead of its biggest competitor at the time, Microsoft).

When the iPod arrived, it didn't offer the most features or the best price, but it did include what was then an enviable 5GB capacity. It also featured a design that was so unlike anything else out there (including portable CD players, which still defined the era), that it felt like some precious gift from the future.… Read more

Survey: Tablets start to give PCs, TVs a headache

Tablets may be starting to steal people away from their laptops, desktops, and even televisions, according to a survey released this week by Google's AdMob service.

The survey--administered by Google's mobile-centric advertising network, traffic-tracking service, and trend-spotting business--was conducted last month and had 1,430 respondents. It doesn't specify any particular brand of tablet device.

Among the survey's results, 77 percent of respondents said their PC use dropped after they got a tablet, and 43 percent said they spend more time with their slates than with desktops or laptops. As for television, one in three … Read more

Kno tablet maker ditches hardware for software

It's official today: the Kno tablet is no more.

The maker of the educational tablet said today that it received a huge new funding round, and that it is changing strategic direction. With $20 million of the $30 million infusion coming from Intel Capital, as a part of the agreement Kno is going to make educational software and will not produce its own hardware, according to a Kno spokesperson.

The news of the funding round was first reported by All Things D last night.

You may remember the Kno, originally pitched as a dual-screen tablet for education. The company eventually decided that a single-screen tablet should also be an option for students. It announced pricing for tablets last fall at $899 and $599, respectively, and even took some orders.

The touch-screen tablet market is getting crowded, so it's not a huge surprise the company made this choice. Even more challenging is pricing: it's been tough for the field to beat the iPad, which starts at $499, though Android tablets are getting closer.

Intel and Kno will work together on all hardware design efforts from now on, according to the company.

This story was corrected at 3:20 p.m. to note that Intel and Kno will be jointly handling future hardware design, and future Kno software will be available for many devices, not just Intel.… Read more

The Friday 5: A multifunction printer, convertible tablet, portable charger, and more!

OK, universe, you think you can beat me? You think you can make every single item I post sell out within a few hours? Maybe with one deal, maybe even with two, but five? Take your best shot.

That's right: today I'm swinging for the fences, with five deals instead of just the usual one. Some of them are today-only offerings, meaning they will indeed be gone by tomorrow (if not sooner), but hopefully we'll get through the day--and maybe even the weekend--with a few "survivors."

1. Multifunction goodness! Today only, Amazon has the Epson Stylus NX625 wireless all-in-one printer for $59.99 shipped. … Read more

HTC profit triples on huge smartphone demand

Smartphone maker HTC took home record profits and revenue in the first quarter thanks to surging consumption of its smartphone lineup.

For the quarter ended March 31, the Taiwanese company earned $14.8 billion in Taiwan dollars (US$513 million), almost triple the NT$5 billion profit from the year-ago quarter. Net income easily surpassed the average analyst estimate of NT$12.8 billion as compiled by Bloomberg.

Revenue soared to NT$104.2 billion, a gain of almost 175 percent from the prior year and a leap over the NT$95 billion forecast by the average analyst, said Bloomberg.… Read more

Acer A500 tablet gets Best Buy preorders now, available soon

When I last saw the Acer Iconia A500 Tab back in January at CES 2011, there was very little information available about the tablet. Then, Acer only showed the tablet with a blank screen. Even the screenshots didn't include screenshots.

What a difference three months makes.

On Friday Acer announced that its Iconia Tab A500 is now available for preorder exclusively at BestBuy.com. And as you'll see from the slideshow below, there are now plenty of screenshots in the screenshots.

Acer also confirms that the A500 may be preordered in brick and mortar Best Buy stores beginning … Read more

Intel takes over hardware design for student tablet Kno

According to sources close to the situation, Intel Capital and Advance Publications will lead a $30 million investment round in Kno, the high-profile student tablet start-up.

In addition to the funding from its venture capital arm, Intel itself will take over the hardware design business of Kno, which will now focus on its software to manage the devices that are aimed at the college market.

Intel will not manufacture tablets, but take its hardware blueprints and share them with their OEM partners.

Its current investors will also participate in the round, said sources, but Intel Capital and Advance, the owner … Read more

Report: Motorola has sold about 100,000 Xooms

Motorola has sold around 100,000 Xooms since launching the new tablet in late February, says a Deutsche Bank research report released yesterday.

Based on the percentage of Android 3.0 Honeycomb devices showing up on the Android Developer Web Site, Deutsche Bank estimated the total Android installed base at around 50 million units. Of those, only 0.2 percent are running Honeycomb. That points to a figure of 100,000, give or take, for the Xoom as the only known Android tablet so far outfitted with Honeycomb.

The research firm had initially estimated sales of 50,000 Xooms during the first quarter and 150,000 for the second quarter.

In comparison, Apple may have sold 500,000 iPad 2 tablets in the first weekend it was available last month, said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, though some analysts believe the figure could be as high as a million, according to Reuters. The original iPad sold to the tune of 300,000 units in its initial weekend a year ago.

Neither Motorola nor Apple has disclosed sales figures for the respective tablets.

Though the Xoom's sales may seem paltry compared with the iPad, Deutsche Bank called 100,000 units after only a short time on the market "a decent start."… Read more

YouTube TV

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

YouTube may start offering original content on new channels

Toyota will use Microsoft's Azure technology in its electric vehicles to establish a cloud platform by 2015

LinkedIn lets you access and sign into other sites with your LinkedIn account, much like Facebook Connect

A new version of Final Cut Pro may launch next week

GameStop may create a gaming tablet

Netflix acquires the rights to stream the "Mad Men" TV series

The next NBA Jam game will be called NBA Jam: On Fire Edition

Google begins tablet version of Chrome OS

Details in Google's source code reveal that company programmers have begun building a tablet version of Chrome OS, its browser-based operating system.

The work isn't a surprise, given that Google created mock-ups of a Chrome OS tablet more than a year ago. But it does indicate that a tablet incarnation of Google's Web-app operating system is a near-term priority, not just an idea.

Google acknowledged the tablet version of Chrome OS but wouldn't discuss details such as when the project's first version will be done. "We are engaging in early open-source work for the … Read more