Why Android is a #FAIL
Peter Kafka, on AllThingsD:
“Speaking of advice — my favorite part of the Forrester report is when researcher Sarah Rotman Epps tells Amazon that the best way to break free of the pack of unsuccessful Android tablets is to not tell consumers that it is selling them an Android tablet. Right or wrong, it speaks volumes about Google’s struggles in the tablet war to date:
While some may view a partnership with Google as an asset, we see it as a challenge. Product strategists that we’ve spoken with at OEMs have voiced frustration about the limits of Android — its lack of polish, the terrible shopping experience in the Android Market, the rules that Google has set for Honeycomb use that limit differentiation, and the fragmentation of earlier versions of the OS. Only 9% of consumers considering buying a tablet actively prefer an Android tablet — compared with 16% who prefer iOS and 46% who prefer Windows. Barnes & Noble has chosen to emphasize its own brand and user experience on the Nook Color rather than emphasize the Google or Android brands, even though the Nook is built on Android. Amazon may not wish to go that far on the curation spectrum, but it does need to differentiate its flavor of Android from all the rest, and that may come from emphasizing the Amazon experience over the Google one.”
ME: So Sarah from Forrester says having an Android logo on your mobile device is a liability. She goes on to say that Barnes & Noble-style differentiation, differentiation of the sort where you literally distance your product as much as possible from the “Android” brand name, even though you rely on its software underpinnings, is the way to go. Do you buy it? If you step outside of your own shoes and into, say, those of your Mom – she who rocks but couldn’t care less what her OS’s name is so long as it’s fun and easy to use – do you buy it now? Sound off!
