Android Badly Needs a Successful Tablet

If there was any doubt, the iPad is a huge winner for Apple with 7.3 million units shipped in the last quarter.  Casual observation from flying a fair bit has made that obvious over the last few months.  You can’t walk through a packed air plane (and they are mostly packed these days) without seeing a ton of iPads.  Most people are watching movies on theirs, some play games and very few do anything else (some email, some web browsing).  What one doesn’t see at all – so far – are Android tablets.  That’s not for a lack of announcements of individual devices but there is no breakout Android tablet that is both available and heavily promoted.  Apple COO Tim Cook has taunted Google by calling the existing Android tablet’s “bizarre” and he’s got a point when it comes to the many form factors that are too big for a phone but too small for a tablet.  It will be interesting to see if Google has to come out with a reference design and promote that heavily in order for Android tablets to break out.  Despite having an iPad at home and generally liking it, I would be thrilled for a credible Android alternative.