Amazon's budget tablet could force rivals to cut prices

Services...

They could probably force Apple to drop their prices, but the others are tablet manufacturers first and foremost.

Amazon and Apple are offering the complete ecosystem. They offer a tablet, plus the app store, plus the media. This is where both make their real money.

The likes of Samsung, htc, Acer etc. are making most of their money off of the sale of the device, with Amazon or Google making money on the apps. Yes, they provide their own stores, but they are sparsely populated and users will usually switch to other stores.

Amazon can afford to sell "at cost", without factoring in support, R&D or marketing, because they can live off of the eco system. Samsung et al can't...

By big_D on 29 Sep 2011

@big_D

Is this the best comment ever on PC Pro?

big_D, take a bow.

By CraigieDD on 29 Sep 2011

Or...

the tablet makers have been having a laugh at our expense. All the way to the bank. The price of tablets & smartphones is absurd. Pc Pro recently tested an LG phone @ £750!!! It's not even as if it was any good.

By JohnHo1 on 29 Sep 2011

@JohnHo1

While that might also be a factor (Apple sell it for that much, why can't we?), if you look at the tear downs of the tablets, they aren't cheap to make. Especially if you start using scratch resistant glass etc.

The HP Pad BoM, excluding labour and R&D was around $300, they were taking a $200 loss on each one, just from the material costs, let alone manufacturing and shipping costs.

Can the tablet manufacturers reduce their prices and still make a decent profit? Maybe. Can they reduce them by 40% to hit $299 or less? Probably not. Not without using inferior quality parts.

My htc 7 Mozart has a "normal" touch screen and had a couple of deep scratches within a week. My htc Sensation has Gorilla Glass and has no scratches (yet) and my iPhone 3GS, after 2 years of being stuck in my pocket, doesn't have any scratches either.

To be honest, I'd rather pay that bit extra for a quality part. Yes, I'd like it, if the phones were cheaper, but leading edge + quality = expensive. Wait for the parts to become commoditised and the price will fall, but it won't be leading edge any more.

By big_D on 30 Sep 2011

Gorilla Glass?

That is so last year darling.
My htc Frankly Amazing has super Kryptonite Zargon glass. I can hit it with a round from my brand new latest version i-annihilate tactical nuclear weapon launcher without leaving a mark.
Then there's my iPhone 5, what you don't have one of those yet?
It can call the supreme being HANDS FREE!! This is while I watch a 3D movie on my htc Gustav Mahler and get a pedicure from my simply astounding leading, nay bleeding, edge ultra ultra expensive Sony Ericsson - I Just Have to Have It Otherwise My Life Is Meaningless.
Price is meaningless to me, I just want these tablet makers to reduce the commoditised parts in size so they're easier to swallow.
Why do they make tablets so large in the first place?

By ThatsMe on 30 Sep 2011

Gorilla Glass?

That is so last year darling.
My htc Frankly Amazing has super Kryptonite Zargon glass. I can hit it with a round from my brand new latest version i-annihilate tactical nuclear weapon launcher without leaving a mark.
Then there's my iPhone 5, what you don't have one of those yet?
It can call the supreme being HANDS FREE!! This is while I watch a 3D movie on my htc Gustav Mahler and get a pedicure from my simply astounding leading, nay bleeding, edge ultra ultra expensive Sony Ericsson - I Just Have to Have It Otherwise My Life Is Meaningless.
Price is meaningless to me, I just want these tablet makers to reduce the commoditised parts in size so they're easier to swallow.
Why do they make tablets so large in the first place?

By ThatsMe on 30 Sep 2011

Hee hee!

I agree with the quality v tat remark by bigD but I'm totally with ThatsMe. It's deeply sad the way people slaver for the latest gadget because it has some feature dreamt up by marketing that they don't really need and may never use.
You've been trained by the marketing department folks.

By JohnHo1 on 30 Sep 2011

@JohnHo1

No, not by the marketing department folks, otherwise I'd have already bought a Fondleslab.

I personally can't see any use for one. If I did, I want it to be of good quality, so that it will last longer - which was one of the disappointing things about my company supplied Mozart. The iPhone was end of contract and getting unreliable, so I replaced with with the htc Sensation, otherwise I would have struggled on with it.

By big_D on 30 Sep 2011