Samsung Unveils Tablet to Compete with iPad

Samsung Electronics Co. unveiled the Galaxy Tab, its take on Apple Inc.'s iPad, as more technology companies trickle into the nascent tablet market. Tablets represent a potential new source of revenue for Samsung, which is making up for lost ground in the intensely competitive smart phone business. We can see nowadays, the trend of using smart phones are very in high demand and the situation is also the same here in Malaysia. I also are among the users of this kind of device. However, my device are away behind from this Samsung's invention.

I have identified that, rather than sell it directly to consumers, Samsung will rely on its carrier partners to sell the Galaxy Tab, which runs on Google Inc.'s Android software, comes with a cellular connection, and features a 7 inch screen. The tablet will debut in Italy, moving to other markets as Samsung locks in more carrier deals.

Vodafone Group, the world's biggest mobile operator has stated that it would start selling the Galaxy Tab in most of its European markets and a number of its other markets worldwide in October. It is expected to launch in the U.S. over the next few months, but the company would only say it was in talks with multiple carriers. The Galaxy Tab is essentially an enlarged version of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S smart phone, which was originally available through AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile, and more recently Sprint Nextel Corp.

While a price has not been set, Samsung product executive Hankil Yoon have stated that it would likely retail for between $200 and $300, although the final price would vary depending on different carrier subsidies. While I have calculated in Malaysian Ringgit (RM), the cost per Tab is approximately about RM930 to RM950 excluding tax based on current US Dollar that is USD 3.1200. Therefore I see this device has a quite reasonable price on Malaysian market. However, I believe the price may increase twice or much more higher due to the demand and the value of this product becoming higher in the future. Hankil Yoon expects to ship 10 million units and take a third of the global tablet market next year.

But it is unclear if any tablet beyond the iPad will prove to be a hit. Samsung follows Dell Inc. which launched its Streak through AT&T last month. More tablets are expected for the holiday selling season. While many companies are devoting resources toward building a worthy iPad competitor, history shows that Apple often enjoys a lengthy lead with its products.

The iPad, which sold 3 million units after 80 days in the market, is expected to control three quarters of the tablet market this year, with its share only slipping to 62% by 2012, based on iSuppli. Like the iPad, the Galaxy Tab customizes core applications, such as email and contacts, to take advantage of the larger screen, offers Wi-Fi capabilities, and provides a hub for reading magazines, books and newspapers. It also lacks a removable battery and requires a proprietary dock to connect to a PC.

Samsung Galaxy Tab is really good device and I suggest for those who like to online 24/7, this is the great device and it worth for the price. As we can see, IT nowadays is very vital to our daily life and it makes an ease to the human life. A device like this can be purchase by anyone and it is a device that follow today’s trend. Samsung calls its tablet a “smart media device” and Galaxy Tab definitely has the specifications to back it up by Android 2.2 support, a Cortex A8 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and 16/32 GB of internal memory with the possibility of upgrading through microSD memory cards. I see this supports provide a so called high quality performance and the device will give an excellent applications to its users. With the Wi-Fi connectivity of this device, it can be use by the users smoothly for instance users can surf the internet for online shopping purpose. This can involve the transaction between the business and the customers (B2C) or other transactions of electronic commerce (e-commerce).

Furthermore, there is a 7-inch TFT-LCD display with 1024×600 pixel resolution, a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED Flash plus an additional front 1.3 megapixel camera for video chats which may be I think it got to hurt iPad owners at least a little bit as well as Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. The dimensions of the device are 190.09 x 120.45 x 11.98mm, with 380 grams of weight, and the battery should last through seven hours of movie playback. For me, this device possesses nice applications and lots of entertainment due to the high class Android support plus the excellent processors.

In other words, I see that the iPad got a worthy competitor, not only because of the capable hardware the Tab is sporting, but also because it has the latest and greatest version of Android. Although it is smaller than the iPad, whose screen measures 9.7 inches, Galaxy Tab does a lot of things the iPad cannot do which are it has two cameras, and it supports Flash and a wide variety of multimedia formats, including DivX, XviD, MPEG4, H.263 and H.264. Therefore, for me the Samsung Galaxy Tab is a new device that can complete the consumer’s demands on this type of product. A tight competition between these two products will catch the interest among consumers. Some confusion to purchase these products also will arise. However, based on a good consumer’s judgement like us for instance may lead to the right product purchase.The invention of this product can help the technology and human to move forward through this millennium era.

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-magid/samsung-challenge-apple-w_b_703132.html#s133869

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxp8K8-9tQs

http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/?INT=us_home_subbanner2_galaxytab_0825

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Tab

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368653,00.asp

http://www.bnm.gov.my/statistics/exchangerates.php

Written by:

Mohd Zuraffly Bin Md Zuki

2009751483

(Individual Assignment - Current Issues)