By Amir Efrati and Jessica E. Vascellaro
Even as Google plans to open an online store for tablet computers, the company must overcome numerous challenges to make headway against Apple's iPad.
While smartphones based on Google's Android mobile operating software have become meaningful challengers to Apple's iPhone, Android-based tablets show no signs of catching up to the iPad.
"Nobody has come close to matching what Apple has delivered with the iPad," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner.
That's partly because wireless carriers played a big role in making Android smartphones more affordable than the iPhone, which they haven't done to the same degree with the iPad and other tablets. Wireless carriers helped market and bring down the cost of Android phones more than they have with tablets because they were shut out from selling the iPhone due to AT&T's exclusive contract with Apple.
In addition, the increased importance of software to tablets – which many consumers buy for the apps, not for other features like calling – plays to Apple's sizeable lead in that category. Apple has hundreds of thousands of apps optimized for tablets, compared to a small fraction of that amount for Android, according to some analysts.
A Google spokesman declined to comment on how many tablet-optimized apps exist in its app store.
Google's top Android executive, Andy Rubin, said last month at a trade show that 12 million Android tablets have been activated, or "less than I'd expected it to be if you really want to win." Apple had sold more than 55 million iPads as of the end of December.
Mr. Rubin said Android would "double-down to win in that space," without elaborating.
But Google faces increasing competition in tablets, and not just from Apple. Amazon has exploded onto the scene with its $199 Kindle Fire tablet, while Microsoft is expected to make a splash when its Windows 8 software launches later this year.
Analysts say the Kindle Fire is the most successful challenger to the iPad, though it has many fewer functions than the iPad. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan estimated Amazon sold about six million Kindle Fires in the fourth quarter, compared with 13 million iPads in the same period.
Some Android partners say Android will catch up. Phil Lubell, head of Sony's U.S. tablet business, said sales of Android tablets will grow as consumers become more comfortable with the software and Google makes improvements to it. "The best is yet to come," he said.
Fared Adib, a vice president at wireless carrier Sprint Nextel, said he too was confident that Android will take a sizable tablet market share. Among his reasons: multiple manufacturers are building Android tablets in different sizes and at lower price points than the iPad. "Not everyone can afford a $500 tablet," he said, especially in markets outside the U.S.
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