[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] BarryH_GEG:
I don't think anyone here does. We'd have to be idiots to spend hundreds of dollars each on something we were hoping would die or become obsolete. But you can appreciate and enjoy something and still be objective. Asus, Nvidia, Samsung, and Google are all public companies and have to answer to their shareholders about the direction they take and the decisions they make. All four are in the mobile space because they feel there's a revenue opportunity; and a higher revenue opportunity than applying their resources elsewhere. If they throw tons of money at Android and their profit and margin deteriorate over time, that's a "fail." You can invest forward (go upside down) for a period of time with the promise of much greater future gains but eventually you have to be realistic. Two examples of that are HP very quickly cutting their losses with the TP and the position RIM finds themselves in. Chasing something based on ego and hope at the expense of your shareholders is a great way for a senior management team to be shown the door.

Here's my view of where the four companies are coming from:

1) Asus - With the Android tablet market shaky and in its infancy, they see an opportunity to be in tablets what Samsung is in smartphones. There's no other reason for them to be so aggressive while everyone else is regrouping. With all the price pressure from the bottom (Amazon and now Google) and Apple owning the high end, it's a risky strategy. But it could change their place in the market and how they are perceived which has huge value beyond simply selling Android tablets. My guess is if 2012 isn't a home run they'll reconsider their strategy in 2013. Their shareholders will demand it.

2) Nvidia - HP does well with PCs and Printers, that didn't guarantee their success in tablets. BB owned the corporate market for smart-ish phones because of their security features and BB Mail, that didn't guarantee their success in tablets. Nvidia is very successful in many lines of business, that doesn't guarantee their success in mobile. If Teg3 doesn't gain traction soon, all the expense for R&D vs. more limited than expected sales will start hurting their margins. After that, they'll probably have one more chance to go for a home run (Teg4?). If at that point they are still number six in mobile processor sales and mobile isn't contributing a significant amount of profit (not volume) to their bottom line they'll need to reconsider their strategy.

3) Samsung - They'll go where the money is. I doubt they'll abandon Android or the tablet market but will instead focus on the high end of it potentially selling fewer devices at higher profit. At the same time they'll continue to develop Bada for the low-end and throw all their resources at W8 (like HP and Dell) letting the market decide each OS' future.

4) Google - They could care less about any of it. They've been dragged in to being a reseller to protect their future search sales and media revenue. They have no choice but to spend whatever it takes with whoever will work with them to keep Android as prominent as possible to continue to grow revenue in their core businesses (which isn't selling or giving away s/w and h/w). Keep in mind that be it Asus or Samsung, no one’s going to build a Nexus piece of h/w unless there’s profit in it and Google may very well have to subsidize the h/w to accomplish their revenue growth in other areas. With their historic disregard for the user experience (Apple’s core competency) just launching a Google Experience device isn’t going to truly compete with Apple. And all the money in the world isn’t going to allow them to replicate overnight what took Apple decades to develop.

Here are two really interesting articles. The first is on Google's logic and likely success in selling tablets directly. The second is the impact of Android fragmentation on developers and the lift that could provide WindowsPhone (and W8) as it matures.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...war_against_Google?taxonomyId=15&pageNumber=3

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspe...y-developers-need-to-be-wary-about-android/2/

P.S. - Demandarin, you always start these threads with little or nothing concrete to back them up and they always end up as multi-page debates. "Nvidia always ahead of the pack" is a useless statement until one of their products truly is broadly adopted and actually changes their revenue, profit, and position in the market place. Teg2 hasn't done that, total 2011 sales were $360MM. Teg3 is off to a slow start and the current revenue projected is $540MM (having already been revised down by half). That's 10% of what Qualcomm's sold in 2011. Something meteoric has to occur for Nvidia's position in the market to change. And it'll take more than a press release, a hyped CEO, and you rooting for them in order for that to happen.