There is the Apple iPad and then there is everyone else. Well, to this point, Samsung has done very well in the tablet marketplace. Google and their Nexus 7 certainly did wonders, but perhaps the higher priced Nexus 9 has caused consumers to pause. Sony, Lenovo, Acer, Microsoft and others are all in the tablet game. Asus has done amazingly well with their Transformer brand, and there is no reason to expect this to change.
It’s quite obvious that Asus is doing a major refresh, which is going to be substantial. It’s going to be aggressive by the sounds of it and we believe that Samsung is the target. With a fresh branding, the ZenPad, Asus has an opportunity to simplify their tablet offerings and create greater brand awareness. Samsung has stumbled as of late with a glut of tablets and no one particular branding.
If you look at Apple, it’s very simply. People know the tablets very easily. Shopping for accessories is easy. Comparisons are easy. Asus has an opportunity to grow their North American presence, which will make a dent in the Android tablet market in the USA and Canada which is largely held down by Samsung and Google to a lesser extent.
Asus has something in the ZenPad S Transformer that Samsung has yet to develop. Having a convertible laptop is a game changer. With one Android model, with appealing aesthetics and price, Asus can make big inroads into the North American market. It does appear at the point that the budget market is something that Asus is abandoning, but that only means the consumer will know the Asus tablets by name, far easier. Brand is a key and shouldn’t be underestimated.
Hard for asus to break through. Perhaps price point can help their cause?
Isn’t HP in third? Not sure. Asus will have to leap frog I believe a couple other manufacturers to overtake Samsung. It’s a tall order. I think Zenpad might shake things up, but not that many people seem to be updating their tablets these days.