‘Head-Turningly Less’

Gina Trapani, in her list of “What Google Should Do in 2012”:

Release a killer tablet. Price this tablet head-turningly less than the iPad, make it run Ice Cream Sandwich flawlessly, and offer completely sandwiched-out apps that absolutely scream for the big screen. Forget trying too hard not to offend other Android device manufacturers. Googorola should get this tablet exactly right, down to every last ever-loving detail, with the hardware and the software teams living, breathing, eating, and sleeping together on it.

A fine suggestion. But: is there any evidence whatsoever that it’s even possible to make a tablet that is (a) killer, and (b) lower-priced than the iPad? Let’s define “killer” as “as good as or better than the iPad”. I think Google would do very well simply to produce a genuinely killer tablet that matches the iPad on price.

Tim Cook, in 2009 (regarding the iPhone, but I think it applies to the iPad as well): “One thing we’ll make sure is that we don’t leave a price umbrella for people.”

★ Friday, 6 January 2012