According to some new numbers, Samsung Galaxy Tab buyers are returning their devices at a much greater rate than iPad buyers. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 percent of folks who have picked up Samsung’s tablet have returned the thing (the number is being reported as closer to 16 percent elsewhere). Compare that two percent for the iPad.
It’s hard not to draw comparisons to the whole netbook/Linux mess, in which remorseful buyers started returning devices by the boatload. In that instance, the problem was pretty straightforward in retrospect–people were choosing netbooks loaded with Linux over Windows because the things were cheaper without the Microsoft premium.
Once they actually got the devices home and powered them up, the disappointment settled in: these non-Windows devices, well, weren’t Windows. Which is to say, of course, that they lacked the familiarity users weaned on Microsoft expect from a device–also, the software support.
Looking at the Samsung Galaxy numbers, I’ve got to wonder if the situation isn’t similar. Now that carrier subsidization has helped lower the price of the device, the think has become a bit more appealing to consumers (though, not all that appealing, apparently, judging by the numbers). Once users actually get their hands on it, the Galaxy Tab fails to live up to its promise.
There are two obvious reasons for this. First, there’s the fact that, as Google has reminded us, time and time again, Android 2.2 just isn’t optimized for tablets (wait for Honeycomb, they tell us. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it’s not an iPad. Sure it does some of the things an iPad does, and heck, it even kind of looks like an iPad, but like the aforementioned Linux netboooks, one of the device’s primary flaws is its inability to be its primary competitor.
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