Google understandably has high hopes about its upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich.
Indeed, the latest iteration of Android is expected to end the scourge of fragmentation, while helping vendors increase their chances of taking on Apple’s wildly popular iPad.
However, Ice Cream Sandwich might be too little too late.
According to DigiTimes, industry players have taken note of tablet failures by a number of heavyweights, including RIM, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard (HP).
As such, they are apparently “turning pessimistic” about non-Apple tablet PCs, and believe even Ice Cream won’t be capable of helping Android tablets make a comeback.
And despite optimistic assessments from certain analysts, it remains unclear how Amazon’s upcoming Android tablet will perform, with sources telling DigiTimes the corporation may have difficulty meeting its shipment goal of four million units in 2011.
The industry therefore seems to be in somewhat of a holding pattern, with most companies waiting for Microsoft’s long-awaited Windows 8 to hit the market before (realistically) redoubling their efforts to challenge the iPad.
In the interim, vendors expect the demand for non-iPad tablet PCs to drop significantly – much like it did for netbooks – a scenario which could help bolster the traditional notebook industry.
