There are so many problems with the tablet market right now, and it seems like some of the issues are going away slowly, but they are still largely in tact. A lot of what I say is going to rub people the wrong way, so I apologize in advance.
First, the companies need to stop selling tablets packaged with cellular service. It's not a phone, it never will be. Phones are phones. Tablets are tablets. It doesn't matter if it looks the same or not. My LCD monitor also looks similar to an iphone and a tablet, it doesn't mean I should have to buy cellular service for it. Yes, that's an absurd argument, but I'm just making a point. Apple can get away with it because they were the first and they have a HUGE userbase. Samsung shouldn't do it, Toshiba shouldn't, etc. And even Apple offered a standalone version right off the bat also.
i don't know if these companies realize the psychological impact of buying something that has a monthly charge associated with it. Let's say you want to buy a $300 gadget. That's fine. Some people will just do it without even a lot of research beforehand if it just grabs their eye. However, if that thing now comes with a monthly plan for something, it's a totally different animal. Now they have to think about the $30 monthly charge, if they really need it, do they get the device now and cancel the subscription in a month? But now that's more work for them to do, and they have to remember to do it, which isn't always the case. If they forget, now they have to pay more, or pay penalties, etc. It's a trap. It's much more comforting to buy something, pay for it, and not have to worry about it after that. And we know these companies don't make it easy to cancel. So they need to stop this subscription bullshit.
Now, build quality. Apple set an amazing standard for build quality with their first generation tablet. If companies don't rival that quality, good luck. Now, Apple sucks in other things that the other companies are doing better now. USB ports, other convenient ports around the device, more flexibility getting data on and off the device. But in the mass consumer market, those things are less important than the build quality...which leads to first impressions and all that.
The fragmented Android market is really really bad. Somehow, and I don't know how, these devices need to be able to update to the latest OS's a little more quickly and easily. Never in my life have I been so aware of multiple versions of an operating system simultaneously.
The other thing to consider in the tablet market when Android and Windows tablets become available: try not to think about it as ipad vs. etc. Think about it this way; jailbroken ipad vs. etc. Why? Because a jailbroken ipad now has the restrictions removed that all of us pc users care about. Mainly, it comes down to being able to freely move files and folders around. So a jailbroken ipad is a totally different animal than a regular ipad. The app market for Apple is huge, so like Windows, you have lots of options for third-party software. Unlike the Android market, it's not fragmented. I don't see this lasting forever. I predict that Google will try to take care of the fragmentation issues, and then there should be more apps to play around with than the itunes apps. However, there are a few developers that create apps ONLY for jailbroken ipads, which is very cool. That puts the ipad into the same realm as a Windows pc. No restrictions. So the Apple vs PC arguments becomes moot then, and you just choose the most capable device. What's cool about that is that you can choose the ipad, which will probably be the better device for the time being.
