Sony Finally Fully Unveils Its Android Tabs, The Sony S and P
“It's not about who makes them first, but who makes them better.” That's how Sony's Sir Howard Stringer announced his upcoming tablets. Zing. — Meet the S and P, everyone. Sony just took the wraps off …
Context & Ripple Effects
Sony's tablet push has been building all month: the S1 was quietly rebranded as the Tablet S just over a week ago, with an early September ship date, and today's event completes the picture by adding the dual-screen Tablet P alongside it. The launch lands at an awkward moment for the company's security reputation — hackers handed Sony an 'epic fail' Pwnie Award in Las Vegas earlier this month after the year's breach run.
First-order effects
- Sony enters the tablet market in early September with two distinct form factors rather than one me-too slate, putting Howard Stringer's 'better, not first' positioning directly against Apple's iPad and the existing Honeycomb field.
Second-order effects
- Rival Android tablet makers now face pressure to differentiate on industrial design and bundled content, since sharing Google's OS leaves hardware and services as the only levers left.
Third-order effects
- If Stringer's framing holds, the post-iPad tablet market splits between Apple's integrated model and consumer-electronics incumbents betting that brand plus differentiated hardware can overcome a late start — with Sony's content assets as the test case.
The trend: Consumer electronics giants are entering the post-iPad tablet race on differentiated design and content ecosystems rather than speed to market.