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Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

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Re: Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

#41
post #34

About these super tablets... "...least a 13” screen, 64 bit processor, 2GB of RAM, 256GB drive, a real keyboard, an actual file system, and an improved operating system with windowing and true multitasking capability..." They've just described a laptop/chromebook, right?

Basically they've only described the Surface.

If you add the touchscreen requirement, yes. And while the Surface certainly hasn't been a flop (not the x86 version at least), looking at its sales alone wouldn't suggest that it's the way forward.

Re: Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

#43
Tablets will become obsolete once smartphone's screen size increases. We're already into the 5"+ region for smartphones and rumors have it that the next iPhone will be in the region of 6". That's enough screen real estate to browse web sites. Past that the device becomes cumbersome to carry around and if you're in a fixed position you can use your PC/ultrabook.

Re: Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

#44
post #20

Well, a harder question would be: why is this surprising? (How can a tablet ever replace a PC? How come leading companies thought/think that it could?)

This is what is so confusing to me. Although I had a similar skepticism about smartphones, before I got one.

Re: Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

#45

Just a general thought. At some point (for consumers anyway), these paradigms will unite. As such, what will follow is the necessity for window management that can handle different use cases. Right now the only OS really attempting to bridge the gap is Windows 8, which is currently an unfortunate juxtaposition of two battling WM's rather than a seamless unification. Apple isn't really bothering to unify at the moment…

I'm hoping the Ubuntu phone will lead to faster innovation in this area. I don't expect it to become extremely popular, but it will give tinkerers far more ability to hack around with their WM than other phones, and it will immidietly make available all of the existing WM options for desktop linux available to try out on a mobile device.

Re: Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

#46
post #42

I hope people are starting to wake up to the fact that a tablet is just a smartphone that doesn't fit into your pocket and usually lacks the "phone" functionality.

My tablet fits in my pocket and can make and receive VoIP calls just fine. I'd happily sell my cheap phone if it didn't cost me much more to have a mobile Internet plan just to receive calls.

Re: Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

#47
make no mistake, tablets are the next wave of computing for the mass market. the article basically says that we're in the lull between saturating the early adopter segments and addressing the majority segments, i.e., we're peering into the chasm. it's not a reversal of the market toward pc's.

the reasoning, in my reading of the article, is that the tablet market materialized so quickly that most manufacturers (including apple) didn't have enough time to anticipate future market needs beyond simple consumption devices. now that tablets are "a thing", manufacturers are regrouping to provide the next set of features and functionality that now seem obvious to deliver but are more complex. the timing is also dependent on a number of technologies having advanced enough (processors, displays, batteries, software toolchains, ubiquitous connectivity, etc.).

even in the enterprise, computing devices are moving toward being appliances, which is where tablet technologies fit in (note that mobility is not a key priority for a good chunk of the enterprise). your average salesperson, accountant or analyst has no appetite for managing the device itself, and ios and android (to a lesser extent) are designed to hide away this complexity. 15" tablets with wireless keyboards/mice and robust remote management capabilities will replace (or converge with, if you prefer) most desktops & laptops in the enterprise in time. many outside sales teams are already on tablets since mobility & connectivity trump power for outside sales.

Re: Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

#48

An entire article about the costs of PC management, without addressing enterprise management of tablets & phones.

"The main benefits of super tablets to enterprises are their systems management and replaceability. Smartphones and tablets are so simple and easy to manage that they are typically handled by an IT organization’s cost-effective phone team rather than more expensive PC technicians, who are typically so overwhelmed with small problems that they cannot focus on fixing more complex issues. Apps can be provisioned and updated by both IT and end-users without causing conflicts or problems. If a device is lost, it is easy to remote wipe data and to provision a new device with all of the same settings.

"Programs like BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) just accentuate the fact that smartphones and tablets are so easy to manage that enterprises are comfortable letting their employees pick the devices themselves."

Re: Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down?

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Lapdock-500-Pro-Smartphones/d... I give you, the recent past! I used one once, the experience was underwhelming. It could have been good (my phone had more than enough power to run a lightweight linux window manager and web browser pretty well, the android software just wasn't very polished) And it's untimely death http://www.cnet.com/news/motorola-confirms-death-of-webtop-l... http://w…

I wonder if it would be better now that mobile GPUs are pushing as many (or more) pixels as desktop screens have. I agree the software is the problem and still probably not there yet, and it's unlikely any company is going to put the development resources into it needed to get it right. The solution is (maybe) to go commodity for everything. Maybe a partition on your phone with ubuntu on it and just boot into a diffe…

I think Windows 8 was a step in the right direction, where different user interfaces run on top of the same system.

The various cloud sync services are also making small steps towards a future where you are using the same software system from a variety of devices (with the system making appropriate accommodations for the devices in use).

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