In the wake of a new report, are Android tablets now a serious threat to Apple's iPad? The quick answer is maybe, if Amazon Kindle Fire shipments pan out as expected.

Let's first look at the report (see chart below) that came out Friday from Strategy Analytics.

While Apple iPad shipments are way up year to year (to 11.1 million from 4.2 million), Android's growth is huge (to 4.5 million from 0.1 million).

That said, there are legitimate questions about whether we're comparing apples to oranges (pun intended). Virtually all of Apple'… Read more

While user-facing software is what usually makes or breaks a platform--and Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is no exception--underlying hardware can make the critical difference between a snappy and slow device. So what's going to power upcoming Android 4.0 phones and tablets?

Texas Instruments will be leading the way on Android 4.0. Its dual-core OMAP4460 chip is inside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which, in turn, is the launch vehicle for Android 4.0.

This didn't happen overnight. TI and Google have been preparing for this week's Ice Cream Sandwich launch for a while. … Read more

Amazon could be on track to ship as many as 5 million Kindle Fire tablets in the fourth quarter, according to an analyst who tracks the market.

"Checks indicate that they could ship upwards of 5 million units in the December quarter [fourth quarter], which is just shy of half of Apple's volume," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw in a phone interview Thursday. That's an increase from Kumar's previous forecast of up to four million in the same quarter.

Why the hike in the forecast? "Because they have received record … Read more

Despite a globe-spanning, bruising legal battle with Samsung, Apple has little choice but to keep getting key parts for its iPhone from the electronics maker, according to sources and a news report.

Those key parts include the iPhone 5's expected main processor, the A5, as well as system memory and flash memory--components that together make up the electronic core.

Sources who track the chip industry say that Apple must stick with Samsung for the time being. Some rumors had claimed that Apple would switch to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for a so-called "shrink" (smaller version) of the A5 for the iPhone 5.

That's simply not doable, sources tell CNET. TSMC has not perfected the advanced manufacturing processes needed to make an A5 for the iPhone and, maybe more importantly, it's prohibitively difficult to jump to a different manufacturer for the same chip design. … Read more

Intel will be as strong as ever despite the emergence of an alternative platform for Windows 8.

That's my forecast after bouncing between Northern and Southern California this week and attending two major tech conferences--the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco and the BUILD conference in Anaheim.

In the course of three days, I spoke with and listened to plenty of analysts, experts, and industry people. Though the tablet and laptop threat from the ARM camp of Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Nvidia is real, I believe Microsoft and ARM hardware companies have a pretty high mountain to climb.

Let'… Read more

BlackBerry PlayBook prices are beginning to see a slow but steady descent at major U.S. electronics retailer Staples, in the wake of a sharp, though temporary, discount earlier this month at Best Buy.

This also comes after RIM reported lackluster earnings on Thursday and said it would start several programs to drive PlayBook sales.

On Thursday, RIM said it has shipped only 200,000 PlayBooks in the fiscal second quarter, less than half of the 490,000 tablets analysts had expected.

Staples began cutting the price on the 16GB PlayBook earlier this month, reducing it to $449.99 from $499.99. Now it has applied the same discount for the 32GB and 64GB models. Those drop to $549 and $649 from $599 and $699, respectively.

Earlier this month, Best Buy offered the 64GB PlayBook at $549.99, $150 off the original price of $699.99. But that discount lasted only a weekend.

The PlayBook is one of the few non-Apple tablets being sold at retailers that doesn't come with Google's Android operating system. Instead, it uses the BlackBerry Tablet Operating System, based on QNX technology. The same technology that will begin to appear on BlackBerry phones next year.

The 7-inch tablet has some fairly robust hardware, including a 1GHz dual-core processor from Texas Instruments, a multitouch capacitive 1024x600 screen, front and rear cameras, Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports, and 1080p HD video. Access to 3G networks is via BlackBerry phones. … Read more

The BlackBerry PlayBook got a hefty discount at one major reseller though it hardly compares to the fire-sale pricing seen recently for Hewlett-Packard's TouchPad.

Best Buy today started offering the 64GB PlayBook at $550, $150 off the original price of the $700.

That hardly compares to the $100 offer for the 16GB HP TouchPad. Nevertheless, the PlayBook is not a defunct platform like the TouchPad and $550 is a low price for a 64GB tablet. 64GB models from Apple, for example, are more than $800.

Features include BlackBerry's Tablet Operating System based on QNX, Wi-Fi connectivity, 7-inch HD capacitive screen with multi-touch, 1024 x 600 resolution, 1GB of system memory, 1GHz dual-core processor, forward and rear cameras, and Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports.

Best Buy is also offering the 16GB PlayBook for $449, $50 off the regular price of $499.

But stiff 7-inch tablet competition is on the way. The Lenovo 7-inch IdeaPad A1 with Android 2.3 will be offered at $200 and $250 for 8GB and 16GB models respectively. (Currently, the release date for the A1 is unclear.) And existing 7-inch competition includes the original Samsung Galaxy Tab, a model released last year, which is priced at $279 at Best Buy.

Overall, the PlayBook is competing in an increasingly crowded tablet market. Apple's iPad dominates the tablet space, making it very difficult for any rival to gain a big toehold. And then there's the non-Apple market with tablets from Motorola, Samsung, Toshiba, Acer, Asus, and others--all based on Google's Android operating system. Not to mention the WebOS-based TouchPad, which is due for a final production run in the coming weeks at $100 and $150 for the 16GB and 32GB models respectively. … Read more

Apple's latest chip technology won't appear in the next-generation iPad until June 2012 at the earliest, according to a firm that tracks the mobile processor industry.

Getting new processor technology out the door (remember, Apple is also in the chip design business) is a Herculean task for even seasoned chip manufacturers like Intel. It will certainly be no different for Apple, whose next chip, dubbed the "A6," may not make an appearance in the iPad 3 until later in 2012, said The Linley Group, a chip consulting firm.

If Apple keeps to its schedule and launches … Read more

Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said his company is open to Windows 8 as a platform and expects an aggressive roll out of new Android tablets in the second half.

"We're completely open to Windows as a platform," he said when speaking at an Oppenheimer Annual Technology & Communications Conference today. The conference was streamed via Motorola's Web site. Its stable of devices such as the Droid 3 and Droid X2 smartphones and Xoom tablet currently all run Google's Android operating system.

"We're not leading the charge on Windows 8, but as we become … Read more