The Sony Tablet is another entrant into the tablet market. However, we can be sure that Sony will give both Samsung and Apple a run for their money with its two products – The Sony Tablet S (Lower version) and Tablet P (Higher version, dual screen). But the question to be asked is – Has Sony missed the tablet wave? There are so many tablets in the market, that Sony can attract new customers only on the basis of price. It has surely missed the skimming price which is being implemented by Samsung and apple as they have the first mover advantage. Now, Sony has only two strategy up its sleeve
a) Pull in customers based on brand equity and keep a high margin
b) Go for penetration pricing with keeping a VFM model of pricing
Knowing Sony, it is more likely that Sony will rope in customers based on its brand equity and keep a competitive pricing. This is exactly what sony has done with the pricing of its basic model, Sony Tablet S being 26,990 for the basic model. This strategy, although sensible, might affect the overall sales generated by Sony. Because lets be clear of one thing, if Sony has brand equity, so does Samsung, Apple, RIM and Iball. All of them also have the first mover advantage as they were much earlier in the market than sony. On the other hand, Sony has Android 3.2 which is the latest one. But as with any other software, an Android version will get outdated in 6 months.
The other model of Sony, Sony Tablet P brings in something new – Dual screen. Excellent. Something new brought in the market. But do you know the storage space of the Sony Tablet P?? Its 6 GB. A single Blu ray movie itself would take 5 GB. What is Sony doing by giving such low storage space in today’s digital world?? 6 GB space is not enough and it needs to be expandable to at least 16 GB for a dual screen tablet.
About the Advertisement – The ad covers everything that any tablet can offer in an effective manner but also broadcasts the USP of Sony tablets separately. The ad shows the screen space and the zooming capacity of Sony tablet effectively. It showcases the lightweight of Sony Tablet by comparing it to paper. The flexibility of Sony Tablet P is spot on with the tablet being folded from double screen to one. Makes you go “Wow”. A kindle like screen is shown just for 2 seconds, immediately getting attraction from kindle lovers like me. The ability of Sony tablets of controlling media devices and sharing content is shown with a Sony Bravia. And lastly, the one thing which makes people buy portable computers – GAMING. How can an android pc be complete without gaming. The addition of a PS2 like on screen remote adds a zing to the tablet and makes it even more attractive.
Finally Sony shows its tagline which is sure to raise some eyebrows – All our innovations rolled into one. Well, one things for sure. Sony is not taking its competitors lightly and is pushing its complete weight based on its brand equity to really penetrate in the tablet market. Whether or not it will be able to succeed is yet to be seen.
About Hitesh Bhasin
