It’s been said before, but we’ll say it again: the tablet PC comparison wars all boils down to sales numbers. Well, last Black Friday’s sales numbers are in and Amazon and Apple report record sales. Both enjoyed a dramatic increase this year compared to last year’s sales, with the e-commerce giant reporting that the Kindle line’s sales quadrupled.

Black Friday Sales

According to Amazon Kindle VP Dave Limp, they’ve “already sold millions of the new Kindle family” and the new “Kindle Fire was the best-selling product across all of Amazon.com” last Black Friday. On the other hand, Apple also enjoyed great sales over Black Friday due to an 8 to 9 percent markdown on its products. Investment firm Piper Jaffray analysts, Gene Munster and Andrew Murphy observed that Apple stores sold iPads at a rate of 14.8 per hour, compared to last year’s 8.8 per hour rate. That’s a 68 percent increase from last year’s numbers.

According to industry analysts, the Kindle Fire’s performance was mainly due to its US$ 199 price tag. In fact, it beat out the Apple iPad 2’s sales at Target retail stores. Target VP Nik Nayar commented that the Kindle Fire was the “best-selling tablet” at their stores last Black Friday. Amazon’s 7-inch slate may not win against the Apple iPad in a tablet PC comparison, but it still enjoyed great sales from retail stores like Target and Best Buy.

Other Competition

Let’s not forget Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet, another strong competitor against the Kindle Fire. Hardware-wise, it wins in a tablet PC comparison against Amazon’s contender, though Barnes & Noble is creating more ways to make their tablet more attractive to customers. At US$ 249, the Nook Tablet is still much cheaper than the iPad 2 which is more or less comparable to the former in terms of hardware specs. This Goldilocks balance in specs and pricing coupled with the newly launched Nook Boutique at Barnes & Noble stores is hoped to help the Nook Tablet rake in the sales. The Nook Boutique offers face-to-face, on the spot customer support – something Amazon can’t offer.

And this is just the beginning. The tablet PC comparison wars is bound to spark more competition among these tablet makers especially with Christmas just around the corner, providing consumers with better deals and more options.

Industry analysts agree that the entrance of Amazon’s Kindle Fire into the tablet PC fray has forever changed the game. Since it first hit the (virtual) shelves last November 15, the Kindle has been put to the test and has starred in several tablet PC comparison duels against other slates. This time, we’re having it sit next to another 7-inch, Android-based tablet PC, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus.

7-inch wars

In a head to head tablet PC comparison, the Samsung Plus comes in strong in terms of specs. Compared to the Kindle Fire, it has a better display, a WSVGA (1024 x 600) Plane-to-Line Switching LCD. The said PLS LCD outputs crisper video compared to the Fire’s IPS (In-Plane Switching) screen. Samsung’s slate is a small dynamo with a 1.2 GHz chip, though the Fire has a dual-core 1 GHz processor. The Plus also trounces the Fire in terms of internal storage, offering 16 GB – twice as much as the Fire’s 8 GB. The Plus is lighter too, as it only weighs 12.2 ounces to the Fire’s 14.6 ounces.

Both devices are Android-based, though the Kindle Fire comes with a customized Android 2.3 while the Plus sticks with a 3.2 Honeycomb. Another similarity the two share is intended usage. Both the Kindle Fire and Samsung Plus are intended for multimedia consumption, though the Fire is more of a device made precisely to enjoy Amazon’s wide library of downloadable content and diverse e-commerce ecosystem. In this tablet PC comparison, the Plus is more of a typical Android slate and features content from Google’s app store.

In conclusion

Given its superior hardware, the Samsung Plus costs twice the price of a Fire, retailing for US$ 399. Amazon retails its newest slate at a slight loss, thus making it more affordable at US$ 199. According to most industry analysts, Amazon’s marketing move will be worth it, as the Kindle Fire is forecasted to sell around 5 million units just this holiday season. In the end, the Kindle Fire may emerge as the winner because its lower price point may just lure consumers into the purchasing the device.

The numbers have spoken, and Amazon’s contender in the tablet PC comparison wars has taken the number two from Samsung. Market analysts say that the Kindle Fire will most likely settle in that spot – and maybe even whittle away further at the iPad 2’s share of market.

Apple and the competition

If you’ve been following the tablet PC comparison wars for a time, you’d know how the Apple iPad 2 eats its competition for breakfast. The slate maker commands a sizeable 65.6% share of the tablet PC market, thwarting everybody else’s attempts to grab a piece of the pie. Industry analysts say that though many have been actively competing with Apple by releasing their own tablet PC models, sometimes coming as close to emulating the iPad itself, none has come close to actually competing head to head with it in the market.

Former number 2, Samsung for example, released a tablet so closely resembling the iPad that it’s still having problems selling the device in some countries because of patent infringement suits. Since the Kindle Fire surged off the shelves, Samsung had only been left with 4.8% market share, though in a head-to-head tablet PC comparison, the Galaxy Tab emerges the victor. The Kindle Fire’s lower price point and access to Amazon’s robust ecosystem beats out the Galaxy Tab’s superior specs.

Game changer

As of this writing, the Kindle Fire has only been out in the market for a little over 2 weeks, and already, it’s projected to take as much as 13.8% of the market by the end of this year. Before the Kindle Fire, competitors have only been trying to outgun the iPad 2 in terms of hardware, others going so far as to refining unit designs to offer unique looks and functionalities. Those efforts, while innovative, have largely failed.

Amazon, on the other hand, levelled the playing field somewhat by offering the Kindle Fire at a slight loss, luring customers with a very attractive selling price of US$ 199. The marketing strategy has paid up quite nicely, with e-commerce giant reporting quadrupled sales for its Kindle line last Black Friday. So far, Amazon has proved that it is possible to punch a hole in Apple’s lion’s share of the market and many believe that this is only just the beginning of a new phase in the tablet PC comparison wars. Will others follow Amazon’s example and start offering tablet PCs at a lower price range? We’ll see which way the market leans in the next few months.

Putting away slates have not been as easy for other tablet PC makers as it has been for Apple and Amazon. Even so, other tablet PC makers like Motorola are not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Reportedly, Motorola has teamed up with Verizon Wireless for the Motorola Mobility Droid Xyboard. What does the new slate bring to a tablet PC comparison?

Details and Specs

We actually don’t know for sure yet. Motorola and Verizon are keeping mum about the tablet PCs they have slated for next month. Here’s what we know though: the Droid Xyboard will come in two sizes, a 10-inch and an 8-inch; and we’ll be seeing it before the end of this year. The Xyboard is reportedly thinner than its predecessor, the Xoom, and will look a bit like the Droid Razr design-wise. The Xyboard will come with the Android Honeycomb OS, and will have a 1.2 GHz dual core processor and 1 GB RAM.

It’ll have front and rear cameras as well, 5 MP at the back and 1.3 MP for the front facing one. It’ll have the tough Gorilla Glass, and will be lighter and thinner than the Xoom. According to sources, the 10-inch Xyboard model is intended for business use while its smaller sibling leans toward multimedia and entertainment use. The 8-inch model will reportedly have a 2.1 virtual surround sound system (subwoofer included). We’ll know how the smaller Xyboard measures up to the iPad 2 or the Kindle Fire in a head to head tablet PC comparison, and we’ll know for sure once Motorola throws us more info on the new devices.

The Unique Selling Point

What’s the point of teaming up with Verizon when the Xyboard doesn’t look like it offers anything new, we hear you ask. Actually, it does and it’s called LTE, or Long Term Evolution, technology. The Motorola Xyboard will be equipped with 4G LTE technology, which promises faster mobile connection speeds. We’ve yet to hear more about the Motorola’s new slates price-, specs-, and features-wise but we’ll keep you posted once those become available. Will it butt heads with Apple’s iPad 2? Or will it follow in Amazon’s footsteps and offer these at a cheaper price point? We’ll probably be seeing it in a tablet PC comparison against those two market leaders and other contenders once it hits the stores.

We’ll see how the devices fare once they hit the market later this month. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing them for the holiday season.

According to a report from Digitimes, major hardware makers like HP, Acer, Asus, and Dell will be throwing in the towel in the tablet PC comparison wars in 2012. Apparently, these players will ease out of the competition, according to “sources from upstream supply chain.” The reason suggested for which is simple: though these players specialize on making good hardware, they have no stake whatsoever in content. As tablet PC contenders with strong content support – Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Apple – start bringing the fight to content ecosystems and low prices rather than hardware, the pure hardware players won’t be able to compete.

Beginnings of a Content-Rich, Low End Tablet PC Comparison War?

Amazon sells the Kindle Fire at a small loss, hoping that the content sales will subsidize the device’s cost in the long run. At USD 199, the Kindle Fire is USD 50 cheaper than the specs-superior Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet. However, the revamped Nook Simple Touch is now available at USD 99. According to some industry analysts, Amazon and Barnes and Noble look to profit not from the hardware, but from the content sales.

This doesn’t sound like good news for the hardware players, as they are unlikely to compete price-wise. Android- and Windows-based tablet PCs won’t see any profit from content downloads to their devices. Amazon, B&N, and Apple can afford to lower their hardware prices as their content sales can offset the hardware losses.

The Possible Shake-Up

The Digitimes report also mentioned that some industry insiders think that the Kindle and Nook may eventually be offered for free. Some analysts think that this may mean the end of the tablet PC comparison wars, with the lower priced, content-centric tablet PCs from Amazon and Barnes and Noble and the high-end king Apple coming out on top.

With component supply problems, lagging sales, and lack of content support, the big players may find the walls closing in on them and their tablet PCs. Will Google step in? Are the wars really over? Anyway, we’ll see what happens in the next few months. In the meantime, take this piece of news-slash-rumor with a bit of salt and stay tuned for more updates.

Both the Nook Tablet from Barnes and Noble and the Kindle Fire from Amazon have hit the shelves and the battle of the cheap tablet PCs have started in earnest. There have been a lot of reports, reviews, and tablet PC comparison articles floating around the web with regard to the Nook and Fire, and a few things have surfaced that may sway consumers from one table to the other – or vice versa.

Choice vs. Vending Machine

William Lynch, CEO of Barnes and Noble, has referred to Amazon’s Kindle Fire as a “vending machine” to the online ecommerce giant’s services. This “Choice vs. Locked into Amazon’s ecosystem” theme was the same tune Claudia Romanini, director of developer relations at B&N, was singing during an interview with Fast Company. According to Romanini, the Nook Tablet already has Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora preloaded into the device, giving their users options as to where they can get their content. The implication is that Amazon doesn’t offer the same choice.

Most tablet PC comparison reports and analysts have expressed some confusion over this marketing strategy. The fact is, the Kindle Fire has these apps available too – just not preloaded into the device.

Content Lockdown

Speaking of openness, reports have surfaced that both companies have taken some measures to ensure that their customers purchase content from the respective app stores. Barnes and Noble used the bigger storage and expandable memory slot as a key selling point, though it’s been recently reported that only 12GB of the Nook Tablet’s 16GB internal memory can be used for user content. And out of that 12GB, only 1GB can be used for content obtained from sources other than B&N. If you opt to use the external memory for storing your content, you may run into problems as well, since B&N apparently used a locked bootloader to prevent hacking.

Amazon, on the other hand, has a limited 8GB internal memory with no memory slots. This may have been done to influence its users into streaming content from the store. Also, the Kindle Fire has a preloaded Kindle app for reading ebooks, and apparently, other apps and ebookstore are available from the Amazon Appstore, but you won’t be seeing them in the Kindle Fire (quite literally). Competitor ebookstores are visible if you view the appstore from your PC, but not if you’re browsing from your Kindle Fire.

Tablet PC comparison wars are still on, and it seems that though both B&N and Amazon have made it clear that their tablet PCs aren’t so open for third party content, they’re still major tablet contenders for this holiday season. Who’ll emerge the winner? Will price prevail over specs? We’ll see in the next couple of months.

You’ve probably been checking out tablet PC comparison articles and news to see which tablet will be making it to your wish list this holiday season. Well, the holidays are indeed afoot, and tablet makers are timing their next gen releases for just that. Two players, Barnes and Noble and Amazon, are slated to release their contenders next week, and a lot of people are saying that the new releases are going to shake things up in the tablet wars. Let’s check out the latest tablet PC news on the subject, shall we?

Nook and Fire

The Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet and the Amazon Kindle Fire are very similar with 7 inch capacitive touch screens, 1024 x 600 resolutions, 1 GHz dual core processors, and the number of file formats they support. The difference lies in the Nook Tablet’s built in internal memory of 16 GB and microSDHC slot that can extend storage space to 32 GB. The Nook also has bigger RAM at 1 GB. The Kindle Fire, on the other hand, features an 8 GB internal memory with no extension options and only 512 RAM. Battery life-wise, the Nook also comes out with the upper hand, as it promises up to 11.5 hours of reading and 9 hours of video playback. The Kindle Fire has enough juice for 8 hours of reading and 7.5 hours of video playback.

The Kindle Fire, however, beats the Nook Tablet in terms of price since the former (USD 199) will be USD 50 cheaper than the later (USD 249). The Fire also has a larger on-demand media library backing it up and a bigger app selection. Netflix will be integrated with Nook, though some tablet PC news sources say that the Fire will come with a Netflix app as well.

The Forecasts

Analysts have taken their sides in the Nook and Fire head-to-head, and can’t seem to agree about the kind of impact the two affordable tablet PCs will have against the Apple iPad 2. With the iPad 3 still a thing of myth and rumor, these two may just shake up the market enough to cue Apple to lower the iPad 2’s retail price. Some say that Apple could just wait, see how the Nook and the Fire perform, release the iPad 3 next year and then lower the prices for its iPad 2. Either way, we’ll see how it all plays out in the coming months. Stay tuned for more tablet PC news and updates here.