It all started with the Kindle Fire, an astonishingly capable tablet for a $199 price tag. When the product was examined chip-by-chip by IHS iSuppli, they discovered the cost of the parts were around $201. Amazon was almost certainly selling its unit at a loss.
Why? Amazon are smart. Although the Kindle Fire is an Android tablet, it’s heavily locked down. Users must buy into the Amazon ecosystem in order to use it, and there’s no access to the Google Play store. Instead, all Kindle Fire users must use Amazon’s app store and content services. That’s why, due to licensing law, most of the Kindle Fire’s digital content can’t be purchased outside the US.
Software limitations aside, the Kindle Fire sparked rumours of smaller iPads amid speculation that Apple customers would give up their ‘luxury’ tablets for cheaper alternatives. Just yesterday, UK electronics store Currys published their predictions for Christmas 2012 best-sellers; right up there at number 4 is the fictional – yet endlessly rumored – iPad Mini. Interestingly enough, they also predict a Q3 release for the Kindle Fire (or Kindle Fire 2) in the UK, and placed it at number 6 in their top ten chart.
Consumer interest in cheaper tech is heightened. Budget versions of premium electronics seem overdue. Yes, there are plenty of cheap Android phones to choose from, but they’re arguably cheap for a reason. Older phones rarely get software updates. Some have resistive touch screens. Some are refurbished, such as the bargain basement Samsung Galaxy Apollo which was recently retailing for just £30 in the UK. For the best Android experience (and a chance of ever getting an upgrade to Jelly Bean), you obviously need to spend more than that.
So how can smartphones be democratized without compromising on user experience? Plugging users into to a paid content model is one way of doing it, but that isn’t on the cards for all manufacturers. Next year, Firefox OS will be launched in Brazil on a number of budget smartphones made by Alcatel and ZTE.
Mozilla’s new open-source mobile operating system will run on top of Android, giving developers unlimited scope to develop apps without moderation – and, presumably, without an in-built app store. Will the phones be up to the job? Mozilla say they’ll run Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, the same chip that Samsung are about to use in their new Windows tablets. That’s not too shabby. With a launch pencilled in for Q1 2013, there’s plenty of time for technology to move on – but that’s not to say that these phones won’t be capable enough to run the new OS.
Time will tell whether Apple jump on the bandwagon and produce a 7” iPad to rival the Google Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire. Whatever happens, the race to release more affordable, capable mobile tech can only be good news for the consumer.
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Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Claire
16/07/12
