Google has decided to attack directly the issue of poor sales of Android tablets by launching its own online store for tablets, where we can purchase at preferential prices tablets created by producers approved by the company. Supply of tablets sold in the store could be composed exclusively of models made under the Google brand, produced by traditional partners like Samsung and Asus, or in Motorola factories – after the company was recently acquired by Google.
If on the smartphone market Google has managed to make alliances with mobile operators promoting Android phones, gaining a market share against rival Apple, on the tablet market things are much worse. Here, Google and its partners are largely dependent on retail stores for selling tablets with Android operating system, and if those stores have also Apple products to offer, they are inevitably draining the promotional campaigns. In other words, awareness of Apple tablets come simply to block the promotion of alternatives based on Android OS, limiting visibility and exposure in their advertising campaigns. As if things would not have been bad enough for Google, Apple has its own network of retail stores, Apple Store, which provides a huge market for distribution of the iPad tablets.
The launch of an online store dedicated to marketing the Google tablets can be considered a lifeline for Android tablets. However, in order to make a truly significant impact, Google needs a competitive offer that would attack the Apple iPad tablets. A first step in this direction could be done by launching the new tablet Google Nexus, which might be sold for a price of only $149 – far below an iPad tablet. In time, the offer could be enhanced with premium models capable of providing a quality as good or better than Apple products, but at a somewhat lower price.
If the strategy of promoting through its own network proves successful, soon we may be witnessing the opening of first retail store in the Google Store network dedicated to marketing the tablets and phones based on Android.
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