Another problem with your thinking is evident in this statement:

“The point is to be just good enough when an uninformed buyer walks into the store and you’re the cheapest option available that actually works worth a shit and doesn’t look like a cheap piece of junk. If you can do that – you’ve got a shot at winning.”

For that to be true, I think the “uninformed” buyer needs to:

– Not have an iPhone
– Not use iTunes
– Not have been influenced by all the positive press and ads about the iPad
– Have very minimal needs for the tablet they’re buying
– Not notice that the iPad has a superior user experience

The iPad’s popularity has gone way beyond techy, geeky people, meaning that there are hardly any “uninformed” buyers walking in to a store looking for a tablet.

Excellent point @rand – the question then becomes.. how long will it still be available?

for most adults, that is too small an amount to be the deciding factor in a buying a “discretionary” consumer product like a tablet. you are buying an experience to enjoy, not looking to get a basic necessity for the minimum possible amount (more like a smartphone).

price does matter when parents buy toys for their kids. so yes, then $150 would matter. and for people on a tight budget of course.

but otherwise, the price difference has to be at least 1/3 less to matter, compared to the desired brand. and for an visibly lesser product (smaller size), 1/2. so the 7″ Galaxy needs to be sold at $250. which is the price point others are aiming at – like Archos.

The key part you missed with my decision to consider the Galaxy 8.9 – was that it better suits MY NEEDS. Not anyone else’s. I have a first gen iPad. I’m looking to upgrade to an iPad 2. BUT, if the Galaxy Tab 8.9 hits the market at $400 and isn’t crap out of the box – it suits my personal needs better than a larger and heavier iPad. My logic is sound. I’m buying a new device soon. Which one all depends on what I use it for and the price at which I can buy it. My use model for the iPad likely is not the same as yours.

Supported video formats was my point about more movies, not availability in iTunes. As I looked – the differences are marginal so I’ll give you that one 🙂

iPod Touch. Here’s why the Zune (arguably the only real competition) lost: The turd brown one Microsoft tried to peddle as the first big competitor. They waited too long to actually compete on the app level and missed the boat that people wanted more than a media player. They wanted a do it all, play it all device. Apple has that. The Zune (and HD) never reached that level and Microsoft continually misses the boat. Android powered Touch competitors – Do people even know they exist? Archos makes a ton of different models in varying sizes. Archos fails because they don’t support the Android Market on those devices and they don’t advertise. Nobody knows they exist and when the sale person is offering suggestions for other devices – they can’t honestly say that the Archos does the basics that the Touch does.

This isn’t an “Apples to Apples” comparison on the media player front and so while the argument may be the same – the actual competitors are more evenly matched when it comes to tablets.

Actually – Apple doesn’t (in my recent experiences anyway) provide any level of deep discount against the competition. Any discounts that I have seen are marginal and don’t match up to the $350 Galaxy Tab.

So let me get this straight — you already have an iPad but will buy the Samsung 8.9″ tablet as soon as it devaporizes … in order to save money? Dude, you have serious issues with your logic.

Also, please explain, if we are to take your argument at face value, why did the cheaper iPod alternatives not take over the digital portable music player market? Price is all that matters right? So why does the iPod still have 70% of the market?

“…in fact it may even play more movies than the iPad.” Um, no, no it can’t. And if you are looking for hints that’s why the iPod competitors withered on the vine as well. iTunes has way, way, way more movies, TV shows, video podcasts, iTunes U videos, not to mention tablet (iPad) specific apps than any of its competitors. It can stream your cable providers offerings and Netflix. The Samsung tablet can’t. (The iPad also has a bigger screen and longer battery life, both big plusses for watching video.)

Sorry, but this is the iPod vs. everyone else all over again. Fact: the iPod Touch has been out what — at least 4 years now — and still not a single non-laughable Android or otherwise competitor? Keep telling yourself that with the iPad it will be somehow different — it won’t.

In the end it won’t matter much because Apple will make a lot of money off the iPad and the competition won’t from their devices. Samsung will probably make much more money from making parts for the iPad than it will from the Tab.

The hardware may not be as good as the iPad or iPad 2 (aluminum case) but they have the same glass, and in some cases better processor and memory…

No I didn’t forget. As I said in the post – the basic questions are answered. Email, web, Facebook, youTube Angry Birds… It can do the basics. And as I mentioned – maybe it’s not the Galaxy Tab.

What if Motorola dropped the price of the Xoom tomorrow to $350? you don’t think people would be all in? And when Moto starts selling a million Xooms – you think developers won’t go all in?

What if Blackberry drops the Playbook on April 19th for $350? You think Millions of CIOs won’t immediately sign their company up?

People forget there will be a 15″ iPad, a 17″ and even a 20″ iPad, this was all written out by Apple in the late 1980’s.

The main reason Android failed is because Developers & Customers hate the devices. The hardware is poor, there is little decent software, basically no reliable syncing, price of ownership is higher, no real accessory market, difficult to upgrade the OS, on & on…

Now, Honeycomb: 17 apps, ?, ?, ?, ? (everthung else is unknown or you have to a hacker to manage it)

Now Android tablets: no apps meant to run on tablets; never expect a upgrade?everything else is either not there or unknown.

My point was more – people don’t know necessarily know they are wasting their money on a lesser device. Most people are going to vote with their wallets… Especially if they don’t know any better. Otherwise those $150 android iPad knockoffs from China would never sell.