the rise of the tablet sucked $40bn out of global IT

Title should be "analysts overestimated sales by 40bn (because they're not that good of analysts)"

To be fair almost everyone underestimated where the tablet market would be this year, however I won't disagree with your statement "because they're not that good of analysts" lol.

I was reading an artical about CES hits and misses from last year on PCWorld and this line from the article caught me.

PCWorld artical [pcworld.com]
"Intel talked up its Ultrabook line of thin laptops at CES 2012 and talked down tablets. “People like to create in order to express themselves,” Intel exec Mooly Eden said. They are not “consumption cows,” he added, taking a shot at tablets, which are often viewed as mere content consumption devices. Twelve months later, the tablet market is going gangbusters."

I was a slow adopter to tablets I simply did not see any practical use since I had a smart phone. I can now say I was totally wrong. After purchasing one for my wife and daughter and using it for a period of time (causing fights over over who was gonna get to use it) we now each have an iPad purchased over the past year. I can see myself purchasing more this year for employees just because I am so much more productive using my tablet over my smartphone.

My phone is now basically only used for phone calls (feels like the 80's again) and my laptop literally is collecting dust. I used it for the first time in almost 2 months this weekend. I would worry more about where smart phone usage is heading. I can see that taking a major drop in the next couple of years, but in general most of the smartphone manufacturers are also your tablet manufacturers.

OOC, what do you use your tablets for? I am not surprised America buys tons of tablets simply because most of the marketing for computers nowadays is for tablets. However, I still believe tablets generally are a solution looking for a problem. There's nothing I've seen you can do on them that you can't do on a computer (or some other device), so adding a tablet to the mix just seems to be a novelty factor imo. The one use I've seen where it's more necessitated is with my wife when she teaches. She uses it as a "super-notepad" of sorts, where carrying a laptop around class would just be too bulky and inconvenient.

Quote from bonkman : OOC, what do you use your tablets for? I am not surprised America buys tons of tablets simply because most of the marketing for computers nowadays is for tablets. However, I still believe tablets generally are a solution looking for a problem. There's nothing I've seen you can do on them that you can't do on a computer (or some other device), so adding a tablet to the mix just seems to be a novelty factor imo. The one use I've seen where it's more necessitated is with my wife when she teaches. She uses it as a "super-notepad" of sorts, where carrying a laptop around class would just be too bulky and inconvenient.

That was exactly my thoughts on the whole tablet thing until I started using one. I use mine for just about everything now. E-mail would be a big one. I regularly get PO's and Invoices sent to my e-mail reading and replying to these goes much faster on a 10" screen than with my tiny phone screen. I am constantly reading either a book or something on the internet, again this goes much easier on a 10" screen. The marine navigation apps work great on the tablet and seem to have a better battery life than the one I run on my iPhone when needed. My 3yo daughter plays learning games and watches movies on hers all time and I really enjoy doing the interactive Disney books with her. My wife is legally blind (has a genetic disease and started loosing her vision is high school). She is a therapist and regularly has to appear in court the iPad has some great accessibility features ( tap with 3 fingers zooms the screen when set in features) and great zoom apps allowing her to read court papers and any papers really instead of having to use her 1k electronic reader. This also allows her to read the internet and email something she struggles with on a smartphone or even a computer.

The truth is a laptop and smartphone can do any of these but I have found that the tablet just does them faster and better. Sure a smartphone is great for portability but if you have the ability to carry a tablet then I would take that over the phone any time.

Quote from madadd : That was exactly my thoughts on the whole tablet thing until I started using one. I use mine for just about everything now. E-mail would be a big one. I regularly get PO's and Invoices sent to my e-mail reading and replying to these goes much faster on a 10" screen than with my tiny phone screen. I am constantly reading either a book or something on the internet, again this goes much easier on a 10" screen. The marine navigation apps work great on the tablet and seem to have a better battery life than the one I run on my iPhone when needed. My 3yo daughter plays learning games and watches movies on hers all time and I really enjoy doing the interactive Disney books with her. My wife is legally blind (has a genetic disease and started loosing her vision is high school). She is a therapist and regularly has to appear in court the iPad has some great accessibility features ( tap with 3 fingers zooms the screen when set in features) and great zoom apps allowing her to read court papers and any papers really instead of having to use her 1k electronic reader. This also allows her to read the internet and email something she struggles with on a smartphone or even a computer. The truth is a laptop and smartphone can do any of these but I have found that the tablet just does them faster and better. Sure a smartphone is great for portability but if you have the ability to carry a tablet then I would take that over the phone any time.

I agree that a tablet does stuff faster than a smartphone, but faster than a laptop? I'm going to have to disagree. The lack of a dedicated keyboard is a major issue for me. Even for just browsing the web, I am significantly slower on a tablet, but maybe that's just because I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts.

A tablet is more portable, and normally lower cost, but I am going to have a laptop anyways for school and work (programming), and there aren't many instances where I'd benefit with the portability of a tablet. Maybe I'm not the target audience?

Quote from madadd : That was exactly my thoughts on the whole tablet thing until I started using one. I use mine for just about everything now. E-mail would be a big one. I regularly get PO's and Invoices sent to my e-mail reading and replying to these goes much faster on a 10" screen than with my tiny phone screen. I am constantly reading either a book or something on the internet, again this goes much easier on a 10" screen. The marine navigation apps work great on the tablet and seem to have a better battery life than the one I run on my iPhone when needed. My 3yo daughter plays learning games and watches movies on hers all time and I really enjoy doing the interactive Disney books with her. My wife is legally blind (has a genetic disease and started loosing her vision is high school). She is a therapist and regularly has to appear in court the iPad has some great accessibility features ( tap with 3 fingers zooms the screen when set in features) and great zoom apps allowing her to read court papers and any papers really instead of having to use her 1k electronic reader. This also allows her to read the internet and email something she struggles with on a smartphone or even a computer. The truth is a laptop and smartphone can do any of these but I have found that the tablet just does them faster and better. Sure a smartphone is great for portability but if you have the ability to carry a tablet then I would take that over the phone any time.

I agree that it's easier to do those things on a tablet than on a smartphone. But isn't a >13" laptop even easier? And I dunno what laptop and tablet you have but if your tablet is faster than your laptop, woah. Because for equal price, you get from 2-10x the performance with a laptop. Movies, games, etc work on a tablet but again, they work better on a computer imo. However, touchscreen interfaces may be preferred by some people, I suppose.

It's interesting that you're using it as a replacement for the PHONE more than anything, which is indeed pretty cool (if you have the ability to carry it, of course). Also, neat about your wife's use of it.

Thanks for the response.

Quote from xur17 : I agree that a tablet does stuff faster than a smartphone, but faster than a laptop? I'm going to have to disagree. The lack of a dedicated keyboard is a major issue for me. Even for just browsing the web, I am significantly slower on a tablet, but maybe that's just because I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts. A tablet is more portable, and normally lower cost, but I am going to have a laptop anyways for school and work (programming), and there aren't many instances where I'd benefit with the portability of a tablet. Maybe I'm not the target audience?

My wife uses this with hers Keyboard [logitech.com] i got it for $20 from a Slickdeal. She loves it I find it clunky and would rather use the screen keypad, but if you are a dedicated keyboard guy it works great. That said I can see why you would pick the laptop over tablet. Programming and schoolwork are probably both easier done on the laptop.

Quote from bonkman : I agree that it's easier to do those things on a tablet than on a smartphone. But isn't a >13" laptop even easier? And I dunno what laptop and tablet you have but if your tablet is faster than your laptop, woah. Because for equal price, you get from 2-10x the performance with a laptop. Movies, games, etc work on a tablet but again, they work better on a computer imo. However, touchscreen interfaces may be preferred by some people, I suppose. It's interesting that you're using it as a replacement for the PHONE more than anything, which is indeed pretty cool (if you have the ability to carry it, of course). Also, neat about your wife's use of it. Thanks for the response.

I think it is probably more of a time issue in comparison to a laptop. By the time I get the laptop setup and booted up I have responded to several e-mails using my tablet or even already have a movie up and running on Netflix or am watching live TV via the slingbox app on my tablet. I don't think the tablets will completely kill the laptop or smartphone. I still enjoy gaming I grew up on video games and a tablet will never replace a nice laptop or ever a good desktop for me. They do however allow me to accomplish some tasks faster and for that reason I can understand there sudden popularity and believe we are just scratching the surface at this point.

Yes - time, not speed, is the benefit to tablet vs. laptop. I can be on the couch, click on the iPad & check my mail in about 2 minutes; versus booting the laptop, launching outlook, signing in, waiting for it to sync & then seeing my mail.

Quote from xur17 : The lack of a dedicated keyboard is a major issue for me. Even for just browsing the web, I am significantly slower on a tablet, but maybe that's just because I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts.

This is where the Microsoft Surface is beating the iPad - the fully functional KB & trackpad. Yes you can get one for the ipad, but they're flaky & don't mesh well with the interface.

I also think the analysts WERE wrong in their estimates. IMHO a tablet is a complementary item, not a replacement for a laptop. I know very few people who have a tablet only & no other computing devices.

I think they just didn't take into consideration how sharply the costs of laptops have been dropping over the past couple of years.

Maybe I'm just weird leaving my laptops on all the time

Quote from bonkman : Title should be "analysts overestimated sales by 40bn (because they're not that good of analysts)"

"$40 Billion spent on devices people actually use"

Grandma have never wanted a computer, laptop, or netbook. She has always wanted a tablet.

Quote from xur17 : I agree that a tablet does stuff faster than a smartphone, but faster than a laptop? I'm going to have to disagree. The lack of a dedicated keyboard is a major issue for me. Even for just browsing the web, I am significantly slower on a tablet, but maybe that's just because I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts. A tablet is more portable, and normally lower cost, but I am going to have a laptop anyways for school and work (programming), and there aren't many instances where I'd benefit with the portability of a tablet. Maybe I'm not the target audience?

Tablets -> "surface" / convertible form factor. That is the only thing missing really. Tablet / touch interface on the go. When docked/connected with the keyboard, you will have a regular desktop interface.


You will always have to have a laptop for your work (raw CPU power for you).

Quote from madadd : I think it is probably more of a time issue in comparison to a laptop. By the time I get the laptop setup and booted up I have responded to several e-mails using my tablet or even already have a movie up and running on Netflix or am watching live TV via the slingbox app on my tablet. I don't think the tablets will completely kill the laptop or smartphone. I still enjoy gaming I grew up on video games and a tablet will never replace a nice laptop or ever a good desktop for me. They do however allow me to accomplish some tasks faster and for that reason I can understand there sudden popularity and believe we are just scratching the surface at this point.

Sleep/hibernate + SSD = will get you up as quickly. Switch to Win8 or linux if you want easy access to info.

Tablet convertibles will kill off the cheap <$300 laptops easily.


BTW, you are aware that Intel is killing off the desktop PC as you know it in less that 2 years?

tablets are in the middle between a smartphone and a pc computer.

with my nexus 7, instead of reaching for my smartphone or starting up my pc, I rather just reach for my nexus and start checking email right away.

also the touchscreen is way faster than navigating with a mouse or laptop's touchpad.