Post date: Nov 04, 2013 2:33:37 PM
Reuters Market Access Video -
ANCHOR:
So it's getting a lot of great reviews including CNET is it really that amazing?
SCOTT STEIN, SR. EDITOR, CNET:
Well, you know if you've used a large iPad before and you wanted to get a facelift and a redesign, this is the best redesign they've had. But it's not you know, it's not something that's completely shocking, it's really something that is addressing the idea that we're expecting something lighter and more portable now that we're familiar with the idea of a tablet and it's lot faster. But it's a refinement so you know, it's a good improvement for somebody wants to buy it. It's nothing that is something that feels like it's a completely re reinvented iPad.
ANCHOR:
It's coming into it much more crowded market than previous versions of the iPad. How does it stand up against the competition?
SCOTT STEIN, SR. EDITOR, CNET:
In this in this category of nine inch, $500 tablets? Excellently. Because you see that a lot of other people can't compete in providing something with that performance, and that design, and that platform support. When when you look at the smaller tablets, I think, is where you have a question of do you go budget and you have a lot of competing people like that, you look at iPad mini. But in a large iPad, that $500 price, even years later, I think that's still really tough to beat.
ANCHOR:
So people that are willing to pay in that range going to go for this, you think?
SCOTT STEIN, SR. EDITOR, CNET:
I think so. I think you can save money and picl some other options but generally there isn't anything that's as much of a category killer in that zone. When we talk about category killers and tablets, they do seem to be coming from the Nexus7, Kindle, you know smaller Kindle, and these consumption tablets and you know when you deal with the idea that, you know Apple is focusing on the idea of a tablet doing more and so they end up in the Microsoft Surface territory but the total package for Surface is not complete package in terms of where they want to be with software and I think that's the problem, is you know, that that item doesn't match up well compared to an iPad. I think those are the two products in that top end if you want a computer-type tablet.
ANCHOR:
Alright so the Surface is not the real competition so then who is enemy number one? Is it their own iPadmini? Is it the less-is-more of these smaller tablets?
SCOTT STEIN, SR. EDITOR, CNET:
I think it's Android. I think, you know, certainly there's a huge Android landscape out there. But I think that right now, the way that the Android tablet landscape is set up, that a lot of it is about consumption, Google play and creating a usable multi purpose reading video playing device versus something that you may be doing a ton of work on because Google also has Chrome. So you have the idea of Chrome books and a really advanced ecosystem, but it's like if Chrome and Android got together, then you might have the killer tablet. But because of that split I think there's a little sense at the top end that maybe it's not quite as versatile as something like an iPad. So I still think the Ipad has an advantage, although a lot of people may differ, there's certainly more competition than ever and I think it's getting to be where it's not the only game in town, certainly.