An Attempt to Mislead - Apple iPad vs. Galaxy Tab

A new consumer poll pitting the Samsung Galaxy Tab against the iPad discovered that an overwhelming majority -- 85 percent -- prefer Apple's touchscreen tablet.

It's always a bit of a concern when you see a headline like this.

To say Apple's iPad is preferred by 85% of consumers over the Samsung Galaxy Tab seems to be a bit of a surprise and an attempt to mislead.

Reasons for this are:

• The Galaxy Tab was released towards the end of September / early October in most markets and effectively, we saw stocks rolling out towards the end of October and early November in most markets with any sort of volumes that would excite us.  Even today, there is a severe shortage of Galaxy Tab stocks and you're lucky if you can get one.  Effectively, you can consider that the Galaxy Tab has only really been out for 45 days or so.
• The Apple iPad has been out now for about 7-8 months.  Most people have seen it, touched it and played with it.  Most people have probably still not seen the Galaxy Tab because of their own supply issues and the fact that it is still so new.
• Given Apple's first-mover advantage, App developer's have had the advantage of developing thousands of more Apps for the iPad before the Galaxy Tab was even launched.  The Android-based Galaxy Tab has by comparison much fewer Apps available because it was released that much later.  It may not eventually have as many Apps as Apple's iPad but as we all know, without Apps, your tablet is useless.

I'm not doubting that the iPad is probably still the unprecedented leader in the tablet space but I don't think it is fair to make a comparison at this early stage on consumer preferences when most consumers haven't seen it yet.  A few months from now, we could see a different story but I don't know if those behind these headlines would publish this story at that time.

P.S. For the record, I'm an iPad fan.  I've played and tried using the Galaxy Tab but my personal preference still is the iPad.