In the last days of shopping for the holidays it looks like the Apple iPad is beating out the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet in sales. IDC released a report earlier in the week that projected tablet sales to not be as strong as expected but they are ranging in the millions. IDC Research Director Tom Mainelli said in a release that “Amazon and Barnes & Noble are shaking up the media tablet market, and their success helps prove that there is an appetite for media tablets beyond Apple’s iPad.” He went on to say that “I fully expect Apple to have its best-ever quarter in 4Q11,” Mainelli said, “and in 2012 I think we’ll see Apple’s product begin to gain more traction outside of the consumer market, specifically with enterprise and education markets.”
The success of the two best alternatives to the iPad are based on a heavily modified version of the Google Android operating system. Both Amazon and B&N craft unique experiences that are very friendly towards new users. One of the most daunting reasons Android as a whole is not doing brisk sales is because of the lack of a well-designed GUI and operating system. It goes to show that even though Google is trying to give you the same experience on all tablets with Ice Cream Sandwich, the most successful Android devices are the ones that use customized versions of it.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
