My Nexus 7 is basically a glorified Reddit + YouTube device. It works quite well for that, but I've never really seen the appeal for using it instead of a laptop for most of what I do.
The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
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Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#12The iPad is a strange beast from an upgrade cycle. We were upgrading pretty fast at the start (upgrade ours, give our to others) particularly because of the iOS compatibility problems with older iPads. That changed in the last 18 months, we don't upgrade as aggressively and it seems like we can keep using our older hardware longer. The iPhone is an every two years item (buy, skip next, buy), and that doesn't seem to be changing.
I would bet on a bump with a bigger screen model which will put some distance from the phablet iPhones. I really see no reason for both an iPod touch and iPad mini.
Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#13I always doubted tablets, and then I got an iPad (3? the first retina one) for the kids and for development purposes. That was a while ago now, and it never really caught on here. It just kind of sits there, sometimes going months between uses.
I was in the same boat. Then I took the iPad on a vacation and got used to it – it's now the exclusive devise for the hour or so/day I spend browsing.
Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#14Tablets are content consumption devices first, and productivity devices second. I love my iPad, but I see very little reason to upgrade it considering its perfectly suitable for reading books, browsing the web and watching the occasional movie / show on Amazon video, Fios etc...
I am also very jaded by how much performance degrades with every iOS update and refuse to get caught up in the "upgrade every year" Apple cycle.
Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#15John Gruber had a good observation about the charts published in Quartz (specifically the last one): "Apple has sold more iPads in its first 57 months than they sold iPhones in its first 57 months." http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/04/27/quartz-chartz-ap... http://qz.com/392202/were-live-charting-apples-second-quarte... If Apple pumped out over 250 million iPads, a great majority of which is probably still in us…
Yeah, I believe the slower update cycle too. I have two iPad 1's and an iPad 2, and while I'm definitely due for an upgrade, it doesn't get the same type of price reduction as a phone, so it'll just have to happen in its own time.
As for use - they are constantly getting used for games, movies, books, and web browsing. That is what they are good at. You want a clear use case - its that. My computer stays on the desk most of the time.
Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#16My observation has always been, tablets; specifically iPads; are too expensive for what they are doing. That and just because its an Apple tablet doesn't mean I need to pair it up against an apple laptop. Hence cost comparison is done against other laptops which are priced even lower than the iPad at times. Its hard to get excited by technology when every price point is four hundred and up. How many items do they wan…
I'm not going to deny they are expensive, which slightly taints my take on it, but I see tablets as the ideal consumer device and a terrible retailer device. Once you purchase a sufficiently powerful device there is no need to upgrade it in anything like the sales cycle that people like Apple are hoping for.
A yearly product update is useless for a device that is primarily used to view the internet, check email and watch Netflix or whatever. If it does that when you buy it, it will do it for 4 or 5 years. It lives on the couch or on the bed meaning general wear and tear don't exist much so replacement from damage is a low possibility too.
Apple even help out here because the App Store makes getting old versions of the apps that are supported on your version of the device (where available) transparent, thus the feeling of becoming out-dated is kind of non-existent unless you are a tablet gamer.
For example until last month both me and my partner used a Gen 1 iPad probably for 2 or 3 hours a day every day. I upgraded to a newer version mostly because JS heavy pages like the Guardian and Facebook had started to crash regularly. The latest iterations are so much more powerful that I don't see this being an issue for another 5 years at least.
Sales can be flat even though consumers can be happy with the tech.
Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#17John Gruber had a good observation about the charts published in Quartz (specifically the last one): "Apple has sold more iPads in its first 57 months than they sold iPhones in its first 57 months." http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/04/27/quartz-chartz-ap... http://qz.com/392202/were-live-charting-apples-second-quarte... If Apple pumped out over 250 million iPads, a great majority of which is probably still in us…
First of all, Gruber is absolutely right that there are still a whole lot of tablets being sold. That said, sales have plateaued at best and there are probably a lot of contributors: - Slow upgrade cycle as you suggest. I have a 2nd or 3rd gen iPad and I have absolutely zero reason to upgrade at this point. - They are probably being squeezed to a certain degree. I find that, even with just an iPhone 6 rather than a P…
Nah, tablets will be huge again. The key will be making them a better input device. Voice recognition, stylus, haptics, keyboards, touchless gestures: http://youtu.be/qKQCjwMDiPM
At the very least, sliding a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse next to your tablet then having it turn into "laptop mode" would solve the problem.
Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#18I still don't "get" tablets. What are they good for again? If I need/want to code (or type anything longer than a text message), I want (at least) a laptop. If I want to consume media while on the go, I care more about portability than anything else, so I use my smartphone -- it fits in my pocket so I always have it with me (unlike a tablet). If I want to sit up in bed (or on the couch) and read a novel, I use an e-reader. It's MUCH easier on the eyes (and I think I spend enough time staring at LCDs as it is).
There's nothing I want to do these days that would be better served by a tablet than a more specialized device. I bought a Gen1 iPad when they were new. It sat unused 99% of the time, until my kids got a little older (they love tablets, huh).
Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#19Another data point on upgrade cycle: I dropped my Asus Transformer and cracked the screen recently. While trying to make a repair-or-replace decision, I looked around for options with a similar rigid hinge detachable keyboard and came up unimpressed. All far too expensive; much easier to spend £20 and a couple of (slightly nervewracking and fiddly) hours replacing the touchscreen.
I suspect a large driver of phone replacement is more frequent accidents, loss, and theft.
Re: The Tablet Is Being Squeezed Out
#20John Gruber had a good observation about the charts published in Quartz (specifically the last one): "Apple has sold more iPads in its first 57 months than they sold iPhones in its first 57 months." http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/04/27/quartz-chartz-ap... http://qz.com/392202/were-live-charting-apples-second-quarte... If Apple pumped out over 250 million iPads, a great majority of which is probably still in us…
First of all, Gruber is absolutely right that there are still a whole lot of tablets being sold. That said, sales have plateaued at best and there are probably a lot of contributors: - Slow upgrade cycle as you suggest. I have a 2nd or 3rd gen iPad and I have absolutely zero reason to upgrade at this point. - They are probably being squeezed to a certain degree. I find that, even with just an iPhone 6 rather than a P…
> I suspect that we may end up with some sort of tablet and laptop reconvergence even though tablets took off in large part because the convergence between the two devices was broken.
I tend to agree. The only tablet I own and use is a Surface Pro 3 (and not because of Windows, rather in spite of it--it's a great Photoshop machine for the money, and happens to be pretty good at some other stuff on top of that). I've got Visual Studio on it too, though I don't use it for development much because the Type Cover is crap. If I could get a stiff-hinge keyboard dock for the thing, it would probably be my primary game development machine (I use C# for that, day job stuff and web stuff is on my Mac). As-is, Photoshop and light browsing are what it's good for. And I think that's the basic point of overlap for bringing tablets into "work" modes - the transformable tablet/laptop, only actually good.