Will Android ever succeed in the tablet market?

It rules the smartphone market, but several factors prevent Android from going mainstream in the tablet market.

It is pretty clear that Android is the market leader in mobile operating systems when it comes to smartphones. A recent report from Gartner suggests that Android owns as much as 52.5 percent of the growing worldwide smartphone market, followed by Symbian at 16.9 percent and Apple’s iOS at 15.0 percent.

On top of that, its momentum seems unstoppable. Even with Apple’s law suits and the entry of Nokia’s Windows Phones, there is no stopping Android’s march to the peak of the smartphone mountain.

The same, however, cannot be said for Android in the tablet market. In fact, Android tablets have been met with only minimal market acceptance to date and signs suggest that it may never become a powerhouse for tablets like it is for smartphones. For one thing, Google has various versions of its OS for tablets on the market and no consistency of releases. It often releases a new tablet OS with only one "hero" vendor so that other licensees don’t get that version for as long as six months.

There are at least two other key reasons that the mainstream version of Android for tablets may never reach its full potential. First, Amazon's Kindle Fire uses Android, as does Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet. In both cases, the companies have taken the base version of Android and completely customized it. 

In a sense, they have hijacked Android for their own purposes. The process has caused a serious splintering, or forking, of Android for tablets. Especially true in Amazon’s case, software developers have to adapt their Android apps for tablet use and to be sold through Amazon's Appstore for Android. Amazon does not include Google's Apps Marketplace since it wants to curate the apps that go into its stores to make sure they work as designed and assure that they are free of malware.

The second key reason is that many of the vendors who have backed Android for tablets are discouraged by Google’s handling of Android for tablets via the "hero" vendor model and the lack of consistency of tablet OS releases. Also, they are quite leery of Google’s acquisition of Motorola as they believe that Motorola will always get preferential treatment, even though Google denies such. They are no longer certain that Android, outside of Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s versions, may ever become widely accepted in consumer tablets in the future.

I am also seeing a major move by the likes of HP, Dell, Lenovo, and some other past Android supporters in tablets to switch to Windows 8 for tablets for a couple of reasons. These big companies mostly sell to businesses and enterprises. They had already seen the handwriting on the wall when it came to Android’s acceptance in enterprises. IT managers, who at first were enamored with Android in tablets for use in their businesses but were concerned that they would have to re-write their apps for Android, are now shifting their attention to Windows 8. The main reason is that it will support existing apps, with some touch UI tinkering, when Microsoft and its partners release Windows 8 tablets in quarter three of next year. Though that seems like a long time away, they are willing to wait since they no longer believe they can convince IT buyers to use Android if Microsoft’s has a solution that would work more seamlessly within the current IT programs.

Another issue also poses concern when it comes to tablets in business and enterprise. At the moment, Apple is the only game in town and by its own admission, it has either pilot programs or sell-ins of iPads in 475 of the Fortune 500 businesses. In fact, it has sold 10,000 to American Airlines and United Airlines each and another 10,000 are being deployed by SAP in the coming year. I am also aware of at least ten other enterprise accounts that are considering buying more than 5,000 iPads each for their programs. Every day I hear of new business uses for the iPad and Apple is certain to enhance its push to business for the iPad in the New Year.

That suggests to me that Android in enterprise is dead in the water. While Apple has a major advantage in this area now, big Android vendors who sell to IT must support Windows 8 on tablets if they hope to eat away at Apple’s market lead.

Samsung seems to be the only vendor at the moment making any real progress with mainstream Android in the consumer space; Motorola and HTC are following behind. If they see it has a chance in the consumer market, Samsung and HTC may both adopt Windows 8 at some point, as well. This could dilute their focus on making Android successful in the consumer space.

So, while it is easy to predict that Android will continue to rule the smartphone space, the tablet market has a lot of other dynamics behind it that could keep the mainstream version of Android from ever achieving a similar domination. With Apple’s iPad lead and Microsoft’s soon-to-be entrance in tablets with Windows 8, Android for tablets may never realize its full potential.

Source: Thinkdigit.com, PCMag.com

~

ABCD of Computer - Part III

With ABCD Computer - Part III we are coming to an end of the series of blog posts covering popular terms from different zones. This particular blog post will focus on some of common terms from internet that we encounter everyday.
Following 13 terms include some of the hot-cakes from internet arena. So lets get started...


1. 404 Error
A 404 error is a common website error message that indicates a webpage cannot be found. It may be produced when a user clicks an outdated (or "broken") link or when a URL is typed incorrectly in a Web browser's address field. 


2. Active X

This Microsoft-based technology was built to link desktop applications to the World Wide Web. Using ActiveX development tools, software developers can create interactive Web content for their applications. 
For example, Word and Excel documents can be viewed directly in Web browsers that supports ActiveX. While ActiveX is a useful technology, the downside is that you need to have a up-to-date version ActiveX installed on your machine in order to use ActiveX-enabled content.


3. BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing protocol designed to reduce the bandwidth required to transfer files. It does this by distributing file transfers across multiple systems, thereby lessening the average bandwidth used by each computer. 
For example, if a user begins downloading a movie file, the BitTorrent system will locate multiple computers with the same file and begin downloading the file from several computers at once. 


4. Bookmark
Similar to a real-life bookmark, an Internet bookmark acts as a marker for a Web site. (In Internet Explorer, they're called "Favorites").
When using a Web browser, you can simply select a bookmark from the browser's Bookmarks menu to go to a certain site. This way, you don't have to go through the redundant process of typing in the Internet address each time you visit one of your favorite sites.


5. Captcha
A captcha is program used to verify that a human, rather than a computer, is entering data. Captchas are commonly seen at the end of online forms and ask the user to enter text from a distorted image (shown below). 

The text in the image may be wavy, have lines through it, or may be highly irregular, making it nearly impossible for an automated program to recognize it. Most captchas allow the user to regenerate the image if the text is too difficult to read. Some even include an auditory pronunciation feature.


6. Cloud Computing
Cloud computing refers to applications and services offered over the Internet. These services are offered from data centers all over the world, which collectively are referred to as the "cloud." This metaphor represents the intangible, yet universal nature of the Internet.

The idea of the "cloud" simplifies the many network connections and computer systems involved in online services. In fact, many network diagrams use the image of a cloud to represent the Internet. This symbolizes the Internet's broad reach, while simplifying its complexity. Any user with an Internet connection can access the cloud and the services it provides. Since these services are often connected, users can share information between multiple systems and with other users.


7. FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Stands for "File Transfer Protocol." It is a common method of transferring files via the Internet from one computer to another. However, you can also use a Web browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer to access FTP servers. To do this, you need to type the URL of the server into the location field of the browser.
For example: "ftp://ftp.servername.com/" will give you a listing of all the directories of the FTP server, "ftp://ftp.servername.com/directory/" will give you a listing of all the files available in that directory, and "ftp://ftp.servername.com/directory/filename" will download the actual file to your computer. Many FTP servers are "anonymous FTP" servers which means you can log in with the user name "anonymous" and your e-mail address as the password. Other FTP servers require a specific login in order to access the files.


8. IP Address
Also known as an "IP number" or simply an "IP," this is a code made up of numbers separated by three dots that identifies a particular computer on the Internet. Every computer, whether it be a Web server or the computer you're using right now, requires an IP address to connect to the Internet. IP addresses consist of four sets of numbers from 0 to 255, separated by three dots.
For example "66.72.98.236" or "216.239.115.148". Your Internet Service Provider (ISP), will assign you either a static IP address (which is always the same) or a dynamic IP address, (which changes everytime you log on).


9. POP3 (Post Office Protocol)
Stands for "Post Office Protocol." POP3, sometimes referred to as just "POP," is a simple, standardized method of delivering e-mail messages. A POP3 mail server receives e-mails and filters them into the appropriate user folders. When a user connects to the mail server to retrieve his mail, the messages are downloaded from mail server to the user's hard disk.
When you configure your e-mail client, such as Outlook (Windows) or Mail (Mac OS X), you will need to enter the type of mail server your e-mail account uses. This will typically be either a POP3 or IMAP server. IMAP mail servers are a bit more complex than POP3 servers and allow e-mail messages to be read and stored on the server. Many "webmail" interfaces use IMAP mail servers so that users can manage all their mail online.


10. Proxy Server
Most large businesses, organizations, and universities these days use a proxy server. This is a server that all computers on the local network have to go through before accessing information on the Internet. 
By using a proxy server, an organization can improve the network performance and filter what users connected to the network can access.


11. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Stands for "Search Engine Optimization." Just about everyone wants his or her site to appear in the top listings of all the major search engines.
For example, ABC runs an online soccer store. He wants his site to show up in the top few listings when someone searches for "soccer shoes." Then he gets more leads from search engines, which means more traffic, more sales, and more revenue. The problem is that there are thousands of other soccer sites, whose owners are hoping for the same thing. That's where search engine optimization, or SEO, comes in.


12. URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator." A URL is the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet. It cannot have spaces or certain other characters and uses forward slashes to denote different directories. 
Some examples of URLs are http://www.thinkdigit.com/, http://dauniv.ac.in/, and ftp://info.apple.com/. As you can see, not all URLs begin with "http". The first part of a URL indicates what kind of resource it is addressing. 


13. Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is term that was introduced in 2004 and refers to the second generation of the World Wide Web. The term "2.0" comes from the software industry, where new versions of software programs are labeled with an incremental version number. Like software, the new generation of the Web includes new features and functionality that was not available in the past. However, Web 2.0 does not refer to a specific version of the Web, but rather a series of technological improvements.

Some examples of features considered to be part of Web 2.0 are: blogs, wikis, social networking, web applications, etc.


I hope ABCD of Computer blog post series helps you in understanding various concepts related to computer. Give your suggestions for upcoming blog posts.


~