Op-Ed by Thedroidguy
Since early August 2010 when I was invited by Samsung Mobile to an overseas unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, I fell in love with the device. I had been carrying an iPad since its launch, at first to grab onto the hype and then because it’s a lot easier to stand in a press conference holding a tablet than a laptop. I vowed, as soon as I got a Galaxy Tab I would sell the iPad on Craigslist. (I sold it a couple of weeks ago).
Fast-forward to today and a trusted friend and colleague, Eric Zeman of Information Week and his own Phonescoop.com reported that the Galaxy Tab had to halve its production, and that credible analysts are saying projections are way off. Despite sweeping the CTIA Hot for the Holiday Awards and everyone reporting on it over and over again, it may not do what I personally hope it will. Is the Galaxy Tab the best Android tablet available right now, absolutely. Next month, who knows?
Herein lies the problem referenced in the headline. Just the other night while listening to the very popular Android Show on Radio Android, Scotty Brown and Taylor Wimberly talked back and forth about the Galaxy Tab with pretty darn favorable comments. Based on Scotty’s perceptions of the Galaxy Tab a couple months back, he was admittedly more impressed than he thought he would be. Where’s the problem then?
The problem is two fold. First off, once a manufacturer has their “next big thing” pushed out to retail, they are just weeks away from clearing the next “big thing” through the FCC. Brown and Wimberly along with several other Android sites (Android Spin and Thedroidguy included) have very aggressive journalists writing for them. We try our hardest to weed out the rumors but we often find at the heart of every great rumor is an actual story. Take both the Motorola Olympus and the Samsung Developer Phone, both of these devices are definitely real. Both were originally leaked at Androidandme and it looks like with all of Wimberly’s hard work they are going to come to fruition. Question for you, except for the die hard Android enthusiasts who will pay full price for a phone, who in their right mind is going to buy even the newest “Droid” offering when the Olympus is right around the corner.
Wimberly about summed it up on the Android Show, telling us not to buy the Galaxy Tab because 2011 is the year of the tablet and while the Galaxy Tab is a great device there are more tablets coming out loaded with even more features because technology changes at a blink of an eye.
So the basis for this story is a complete and utter moral and business dilemma. As many of you know I contribute to AndroidStory every chance I get but also own my own brand. Like Wimberly and many others I do this full time. It’s the bread and butter and puts food on the table. So as hypocritical as it is I will tell you beyond a doubt that whenever I get ninja pics, leaks and substantial rumors, I am going to report them. Why? For two reasons, one as journalists we have an obligation to report to our audience the news in whatever fashion it comes. The other is because good meaty stories about brand new devices drive traffic. Plain and simple, it does.
So what is the root of this problem? Certainly not the Android websites out there. We’re not in factories and development labs coming up with this stuff. It’s the popularity of technology, the early early early adopters, the tech enthusiasts, YOU! Watching my twitter feed on HOME, which is a luxury at times, it can be disheartening to see some of these people who just can’t afford to drop off-contract prices on devices every month. If I was in the position to have to buy something off contract every time it came out, I’d go broke. I’ve passed on some good pieces of technology, as I’m sure you have as well.
Wimberly does an amazing job of researching his rumors. AndroidStory does an fantastic job of getting substantial leaks and rumors. Most of us do a great job of reporting the news. In fact I can’t go through the archives here at AndroidStory and find a single time that AndroidStory has been wrong about a leak.
So here’s what gets me. Here’s the purpose of this piece. Fragmentation bothers us all, from journalists to enthusiasts to John the Android-toting doctor or Spyder the Android-toting radio personality. Seeing all the hype for a new device and finding out that it didn’t perform the way we expected, are we, the Android media partially to blame?
Comment any way you like!
