So your dad never browses Wal-mart, Target, Best Buy, or anywhere else?
This is in the netbook range Best buy will throw next to the check-out aisle.
This is in the netbook range Best buy will throw next to the check-out aisle.
It'll be the same with these two tablets. People may buy the $200 thing because it's cheaper. Some (maybe even myself) might buy it because it's hackable. But nobody who wants an iPad will buy this instead, therefore they don't really "compete" by any meaningful usage of the word.
My point is that few people buy electronics on impulse, without research, before walking into a store.
Perhaps if the price is $500+, but at $200 it can be an impulse buy.
The information is available online. Do you really think people walk into Best Buys before they do their research? Perhaps if money is no object. But for most people, it is, and therefore research is pretty imperative.
I do most of my 'research' by browsing in shops. I often go into places like Best Buys, Frys, looking for 'stuff I probably want'.
Also most people have credit cards. Most people often don't worry about money when purchasing things. They worry later when they're in debt.
The threshold is different for everyone, but I would say that $200 is below the threshold it makes sense to bother researching all that much if it looks like it might be useful. No point spending a couple of hours, extra petrol etc to "save" a few $.