I watched an interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. It was on Fareed Zakaria's CNN show. It gave Mr Schmidt a open platform to talk about his open platform strategy for tablets via Android. It was interesting and got me thinking.
There are numerous views of what the future of "tablets" is going to be like. The two that are bouncing around my head are:
1). It's iPod all over again. Turns out there wasn't really an mp3 market. There was an iPod combined with iTunes market. It was total market domination and everything else fell off the map. Now there are those who predict the same with tablets. They say there isn't really a tablet market. There i s only an iPad market because it offers you the ultimate iTunes and App mobile experience.
Thus far, sales figures give that theory some credibility.
2). Eric Schmidt suggests that the future will resemble the PC market in its early days. Apple had created wonderful even exquisite computers, but due to its closed platform approach it became a "boutique" maker of computers. Over time, he argues, Androids open platform and its collaborative creative approach will box iPad into a similar corner.
3). Is there a 3rd option? I will declare myself out of this discussion due to my BlackBerry background.
What do you think? Can the Android open platform approach put Apple in its place? Or, is first to market and brand domination the winning strategy? Please respond.
Oh...one more thing. Mr. Zakaria suggested that the tablet battle was not just a battle of brands but it was a battle of ideas. Seems to me that a brand is an idea, and that the above strategies are embedded in the Apple and Google brands.
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