This may very well be what Amazon is up to. I don’t believe Amazon will call their device a tablet. At least, they would be wise not to.
Instead they will probably emphasize it as an e-reader, shopping companion or media book. My point is that they will use terminology other than “tablet” to explain and market the product. They also will focus on bringing the Amazon experience to a touch screen computer. Amazon has a vision for what they believe the Amazon experience is, and whatever they are working on will be an extension of the Amazon experience.
(MORE: Amazon Tablet Pricing: How Low Could It Go?)
HTC, I believe, also has a decent vision of what the HTC experience is. They call this “Sense”—it’s the user interface they put on their devices to not
just differentiate their products but to add value. I believe HTC thinks about experiences and not just products. They create many of their own apps, have a Sense cloud service, and they create new software experiences from a user interface perspective. They create the HTC experience. It just happens to manifest itself on smartphones and tablets.
We need the rest of the industry to think like this. The problem is that many companies don’t know what their “experience” is or should be.
Manufacturers need to take a lesson from the likes of Apple, HTC and possibly Amazon (if they do it right). Carefully draft a vision and an
identity for your brand’s experience. Then begin to design your devices around it, always keeping that experience in mind.
The result should translate into distinguishable value for consumers and an understanding of your experience as it compares to others. Creating experiences help you differentiate, and differentiation is what is needed in this new landscape for anyone who hopes to compete and be a major player.
LIST: Tablets: ‘Why Should Somebody Buy This Instead of an iPad?’
Ben Bajarin is the Director of Consumer Technology Analysis and Research at Creative Strategies, Inc, a technology industry analysis and market intelligence firm located in Silicon Valley.