Sony: Our Xperia S tab COPIED Samsung's slab ... on price
New gear not destined for the bargain bin - yet
Sony has said it won't compete on price as it prepares another attempt to invade the tablet computer market.
The Japanese firm is about to start flogging its latest fondleslab, the Xperia S, in the US for $399 for the 16GB model, competing toe-to-toe with similar tablets from Samsung rather than lower-priced gear from Amazon and Google. Market leader Apple's 16GB iPad typically costs $100 more than the Xperia S's opening price tag.
"We aren't considering competing on price in tablets," Kunimasa Suzuki, an executive vice-president at Sony, said at a briefing in Tokyo, according to Reuters.
Sony was incredibly confident when it first entered the slate market last year, at one point claiming that it could overtake Samsung to become the top Android tablet maker within a year. Instead, Sony has yet to become one of the top five slab-builders as its products failed to make an impact.
While Samsung and Apple wrestle each other in the courts over allegations of patent infringement and copied designs, Sony has struggled to win over punters with its mobile tech - and kept its best-selling product, the Playstation, separate from its phones and tabs.
Taking back full control of mobile-maker Sony Ericsson by buying back its stake in the tie-up has been seen as a key step in consolidating the best bits of its gear into one group. The new tablet is marketed under the Xperia brand, which is also the new brand for its mobiles. Pundits also hope that elements of its gaming skills can be brought into its mobiles and tablets to mark them out from the competition. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Sony the brand
"It was a nightmare to open and I cut my hand in the process."
It's because of the patent on rounded rectangles. To avoid a billion dollar payout, Sony are just making sure everything is as sharp as possible...
Re: @Bodhi
I think, from what I can deduce from your inane, badly typed ramblings, that you don't believe I have 2 Tablets? Ever thought one might have been supplied by work? I mean I could sell it, but I suspect it wouldn't go down very well.
I also bought the Sony first, and it was quite a bit cheaper than the Apple one, with a 2 year warranty thrown in for free. It also gets used every day, as for my purposes, it is the better Tablet. I can easily play music from my PC upstairs (without a copy of iTunes in sight) whilst mucking about on the web, play the odd flash video, and control all the electronics in my living room with it. Then if I get bored of that I can have a quick game of Crash Bandicoot or Tekken.
So how did I buy the wrong Tablet exactly? Are you suggesting I could do all this with the iPad? Becuase if you have a way of adding an IR Blaster and PS Store I am all ears.
Re: Sony the brand
I can't believe you complain if you take a product apart to strip out parts. You really are on your own at that point.
Sony the brand
As far as I'm concerned, Sony as a brand is forever tarnished by their dubious behaviour over the last few years. I'm not saying I wouldn't buy anything of theirs, but there would have to be a very good reason (significantly better, cheaper etc) for me to choose a Sony product over another manufacturer.
It was a shame the Tablet S didn't do a bit better, as I thought it was a cracking product. Excellent ergonomics (the wedge shaped design was a joy to use for extended periods), some great features (such as the IR Remote sender and the later mini-apps added with the ICS update), a few classic PS One games available through the PS Store, top notch sound quality and very very easy to use. I'm guessing it suffered for not being an iPad, but as I got bored of the Fruity Offering within about half an hour I was quite thankful for that.
Mine still gets used every day and I really do think we would sturggle without it. Our iPad 2 OTOH, hasn't been out of it's neoprene sleeve in about 3 weeks. I would love one of these new ones, however considering how hard the first one was to get past SWMBO (even though she uses it more than I do now), I may struggle to get a new one 1 year on sanctioned. Shame really, as this one looks lovely.
