Why Are PC Sales Up and Tablet Sales Down? • Hacker News Board

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

#51

Post by icebraining » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:39 PM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #35

randallsquared wrote: post #28

The "super tablets" that the article claims as the next step are what every nearly tablet before the iPad tried to be, and they universally fell on their face.

In arguing for "super tablets" the author writes: PCs are expensive, prone to failure, easy to break and magnets for viruses and malware. After just a bit of use, many PCs are susceptible to constant freezes and crashes. I don't see how a super tablet addresses any of that except perhaps cost. Ever drop a tablet? Have it fall into water? Ever see people using phones and tablets with shattered glass? I don't see them…

Ever drop a tablet? Have it fall into water?

Yes, both in bath and in a stream. My Nexus 7 survived just fine, and didn't even shutdown.

By not needing to vent heat like most laptops, the tablet is actually pretty well isolated. It only had a few drops of water seep inside even after submerging completely.

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

#52

Post by gerbal » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:40 PM UTC

johngalt wrote: post #39

Tablets are getting squeezed. The app driven, web-consumption use case for tablets is getting eaten by smartphones. Meanwhile PCs are still necessary for heavy usage. Put yourself in an average user's shoes. You already carry around a subsidized smartphone more capable than most tablets, and you can pick up a $500 laptop to handle everything else. IMHO, a few years from now you'll have a more mature application ecosy…

>Once people can use their smartphones with a full size keyboard/mouse/monitor, it's game over for tablets and PCs.

You already can do that. You've been able to do that for the past few years. You can connect a bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and a display with the appropriate adapter. Android has supported it since launch, and iOS for atleast as long.

People don't want their phone to be their PC. They want something physical they can use to get work done. Institutional and corporate purchasers are some of the largest consumers of new desktops and laptops. They want discrete, manageable hardware, not to have to deal with the nonsense of buying all of their employees a phone.

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

#53

Post by moskie » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:42 PM UTC

iaskwhy wrote: post #14

wyager wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect PC end-of-lifes to be distributed randomly or on a yearly cycle, not on a three-year cycle.

Good point. Here's a theory: laptops were running out of time and people had to opt for a new laptop or a tablet (which, at the time, had the novelty factor) and most of them decided to try a tablet. Tablets did not replace the old laptops so (some) people have since bought a new laptop. This could explain why laptop sales were down during the first stages of tablets' market penetration.

Yes, this is close to what I was trying to bring up.

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

#54

Post by ricardobeat » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:43 PM UTC

> The initial market for tablets is now saturated: grandparents and kids have them, people bought them as Sonos controllers and such, and numerous households have them around for reading

This author's view of tablets is so, so off the mark it makes the whole article even more worthless than the title suggests. Gaming, messaging, browsing and a dozen other activities are responsible for the majority of tablet usage.

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

#55

Post by icebraining » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:44 PM UTC

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #27

I'd love a tablet I could do real work on. The Surface comes closest with the fold-out keyboard, but it's a bit expensive. I live at the command line when I do dev, so installing something like Ubuntu would be ideal. I'm not convinced this is a niche need, either. Manufacturers are just slow to catch up. I have another rant in me about the entirety of tech chasing Joe Average, but that's for another day.

What about the Transformer Pad?

I use my Nexus 7 with a bluetooth keyboard and a Debian installation, though I mostly SSH to a VPS. There's also Ubuntu for Android[1], but I haven't tried it.

[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/phone/ubuntu-for-android

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

#56

Post by walterbell » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:45 PM UTC

erikpukinskis wrote: post #48

walterbell wrote: post #6

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 upd…

Prior to Feb 2014, iPad management required attaching a cable to every device. Enterprise improvements were requested for years, too bad Apple waited until sales slowed to address the concerns of IT admins, http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/26/apple-launches-big-improvem...

"I’ve had conversations with IT pros and people who roll out large iPad installs in the past and they’ve mentioned that one of the things that has continued to cause Windows devices to hold some appeal is their better remote installation and configuration support. To that end, Apple has made some updates to improve that situation.

Both the enterprise and education programs now have support for Mobile Device Management hands-free configuration. This ‘zero touch’ setup has been a long-requested feature for many pros, as it eliminates the need to cable up every deployed device and install a profile via Apple’s Configurator utility."

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

#57

Post by gerbal » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:46 PM UTC

Pxtl wrote: post #40

I'm betting a couple of factors: 1) XP is finally too dead to even consider continuing to use. You can't get by with IE8. 2) Windows 8.1 has mitigated windows 8 problems. This is probably helping a lot of folks through the 7/8 anxiety. 3) Companies not named Apple haven noticed that their laptops are ugly clunky hunks of plastic and are working on ultrabook-form-factor laptops, placing them only half a decade behind…

4) Chromebooks have also exploded on the low end of the market (5 million+ sales in 2014).

The bullshit "super tablet" the techcrunch article describes sounds more like a $250 chromebook/netbook than a $800 'super tablet.'

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

#58

Post by AlisdairO » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:50 PM UTC

srean wrote: post #25

Question to HN: has anyone tried the Onyx Boox series of ereaders sized 9" and over ? I am getting tempted, no small part of the temptation is the fact that its software stack seems entirely open source, based on Linux and the source code is on Github. That seems just perfect. The only thing that bothers me is that it is somewhat pricey $300+ and am not too sure about its performance. I lug around quite a big pile of…

I have a Boox M92 (9.7"). I'm a fan, generally.

The experience (thanks to screen refresh speed) is inevitably much clunkier than on a tablet, but I really like it for technical reading. I like to read outside in the sun, and e-ink works well there.

The M92 is definitely a cheaper feeling device than your average tablet - I guess thanks to lower volumes. I think if I were doing relatively short bursts of reading/reference inside, I'd go with a normal tablet - the refresh difference is really noticeable. If you're sitting back and reading for longer periods, the Boox is fantastic.

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

#59

Post by gerbal » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:52 PM UTC

clairity wrote: post #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 (includ…

>15" tablets with wireless keyboards/mice and robust remote management capabilities

you just described a chromebook. And at 1/3 the price of a tablet, Chromebooks are plenty appealing in ways a tablet just isn't

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

#60

Post by gerbal » Sun, Aug 24, 2014, 5:54 PM UTC

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #27

I'd love a tablet I could do real work on. The Surface comes closest with the fold-out keyboard, but it's a bit expensive. I live at the command line when I do dev, so installing something like Ubuntu would be ideal. I'm not convinced this is a niche need, either. Manufacturers are just slow to catch up. I have another rant in me about the entirety of tech chasing Joe Average, but that's for another day.

A Chromebook might be what you are looking for. Powerful enough to run full Ubuntu on, built in keyboard, built in ssh client and an easy to access terminal.