Apple’s “magical” iPad currently dominates the relatively nascent US tablet market. However, a virtual tsunami of Android-powered tablets are expected to end Club Cupertino’s monopoly of the sector in just a few years.
Indeed, smartphones running Android have already surpassed Apple’s iPhone share in the US.
And Ed Moran, director of insights at Deloitte Services LP, believes Google could replicate its success with tablets – as Android is open and freely available to any company.
“There are a whole slew of factors behind the success: the open-source nature of it, the lower price, it’s not proprietary to one company,” Moran told Bloomberg during a recent interview.
“Will that port over to the tablet? [Yes], I don’t see why not.”
Cowen & Co analyst Jim Friedland expressed similar sentiments.
“By having an open Android system out there, it’s actually accelerating the adoption,” he opined.
“[And] tablets will increase the amount of time that people stay on some sort of computing device, which expands the traffic and people that Google can monetize.”
Nevertheless, Friedland cautioned that Android may take at least three or four years to outsell the iPad as it evolves into a platform which is optimized for larger screens and advanced video capabilities.
“That’s similar to the amount of time it took for Android to develop and become popular after the iPhone was released in 2007…[But remember], it’s [still] the Wild West. While the programs may be less uniform, open platforms have historically evolved faster.”
