If you’re planning on buying a PC or laptop in the U.S., may I suggest you hold off for a while.
Given the slumping sales of desktop and notebook computers and growth in popularity of tablets and smartphones, there’s considerable pricing pressure on PCs.
I expect that in the coming months there will be further erosion on PC prices in the U.S.
Just keep checking your weekly Best Buy, Staples or Office Depot flyers!
Apple has proven to be the principal beneficiary and leader in two of the fastest non-PC categories – tablets and smartphones.
Except for some highly specialized apps, there’s little an average person cannot do with a tablet. Plus, tablets are far more secure compared to the virus-plagued PCs and notebooks.
And Dell’s fortunes have taken a beating given its focus on PCs and failure with other consumer devices. Any surprise then that Dell decided to go private!
Who Needs PCs When We Can Have Tablets added by SearchIndia.com on
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Great news, Ubuntu is entering the tablet/smart phone market.
I am not sure about the smart phones but ubuntu tablets would be excellent in my opinion for all those who like linux. Tablets with other flavours of linux would be great too. All we need is some one to start selling their tablets. We already have a pc vendor system76 selling linux stuff preinstalled.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I’ve read about Ubuntu for smartphones and Tablets.
Even if they do it, the big issue is apps availability and marketing it to those who think iPad is the be all and end all of tablets.
Bottom line, I don’t think Ubuntu will go anywhere on Tablets or Smartphones.
This ain’t news at all. Various vendors experimented with Linux variants on the phone and tablet. Remember the Nokia N Series tablets. Linux or Ubuntu won’t go anywhere on Tablets, Smartphones or Desktops for that matter.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I think Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) makes money off services/consultancy and it’s in their interest to keep the visibility high!
As I said earlier, Linux ain’t going nowhere on tablet or smartphones.
To think that Ubuntu Linux will make it on tablets when HP couldn’t and was forced to go in for a fire-sale (to dump its inventory) is ridiculous.
As for Linux desktops, they’ve been talking about it for over a decade with little to show for it!
Even if they demo a proof of concept, app developers will not follow because of the slim pickings. And without them, there ain’t no hope.
Kai po che getting raving reviews all over.
Is it released over there? Can we expect review?
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Kai po che is releasing tomorrow here.
I watched the trailer two or three times in the theatre….I didn’t get too excited.
Indians seem to have a morbid fascination for anything by Chetan Bhagat. I’ve read his Five Point Someone and seen its movie version 3 Idiots. So mediocre!
Couldn’t agree more.
3 idiots is waay overrated, how did this movie become so successful?
As for Chetan Bhagat never read him, but I understand most critics shred him to pieces, apparently his writing is atrocious but it seems to meet the lowest common denominator of people who think Sidney Sheldon’s books are the peak of literary writing.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Chetan Bhagat is the Rajnikanth of Indian authors.
Oh please SI, do you really believe a tablet can replace a desktop/laptop functionally?……just because the sales of tablet are great and increasing does not mean you should recommend all people to buy tablets over desktops/laptops.
First of all tablets are created to perform limited functions such as playing videos, music viewing pics and video games(no way near pc gaming and touch controls suck) and run some fancy apps such as garage band.
A desktop/laptop (windows,mac….) on the other hand can be used to perform operations much more than that of a tablet. For example you cannot make a tablet a database server, you cannot use a tablet to create a basic web page and so forth.
An android tablet is better in matching laptop skills than an iPad which relies heavily on tons of dedicated fun apps , considering the fact that ios does not have pure multitasking like android.
The ipad 4 with all its fancy gpu is just a poor man’s alienware.
In the end a tablet is a tablet and serves it purpose well, being a toy.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: A desktop/laptop (windows,mac….) on the other hand can be used to perform operations much more than that of a tablet. For example you cannot make a tablet a database server, you cannot use a tablet to create a basic web page and so forth.
You are bloody right.
What a shame, we cannot use our tablet as a database server, a fault-tolerant system (like the old Tandem Computers) or, better still, as a nuclear launch missile (and wipe out Pakistan).
Good Lord! What world do you inhabit.
Definitely not the one the rest of us do.
99% of web surfers don’t give a flying f*ck about using their PC as a database server, MySQL, Sybase, Ingress, Oracle, or for launching nuclear missiles etc.
All they care about is web surfing, watching porn, e-mail, watching porn, Facebook, watching YouTube, Twitter, watching movies, watching porn, reading news, watching porn, not getting viruses, watching porn, listening to music, watching porn, weather reports, playing games, watching porn, watching TV, watching porn.
And, of course, blogging and responding to silly comments. 😉
And a tablet like iPad/Android handles all of that effectively.
OMG, I’m watching the Hyderabad bomb blast reports live on NDTV on the iPad tablet.
I want to add that for most of the tablet uses you mentioned a browser would do the trick.
This could be why Chrome Book is not doing too badly either. Firefox is pushing their OS for tablets/smart phones too. Their claim is that we should be able to build apps using html5, css and javascript and they should run on any device.
The problem now is that developers have to write apps specifically for the apple platform or android platform.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: The problem now is that developers have to write apps specifically for the apple platform or android platform
This is an argument I’ve been hearing for over two decades.
In the old days, ISVs (independent software vendors) were flayed for preferring to focus their energies on the Windows platform.
The computing industry (at least the consumer side) will always be an arena where no more than one or two platforms will be strong, and therefore attract most of the developers to build applications for the platform.
The same logic applies to smaller form factor platforms like iOS or Android. That’s the main reason I expect Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices to fail – lack of developer enthusiasm for the platform.
//All they care about is web surfing, watching porn, e-mail, watching porn, Facebook, watching YouTube, Twitter, watching movies, watching porn, reading news, watching porn, not getting viruses, watching porn, listening to music, watching porn, weather reports, playing games, watching porn, watching TV, watching porn.//
For someone who watches so much porn they would need a stable surface and hands-free device and hence laptop / pc would work better 😉
I am curious if the above sequence of activities is what the women would also do!!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I can assure you that most iPad owners have a hands-free cover/stand that you can place on your stomach while lying down in bed and conveniently “watch the wonders of the world” in all its glorious colors – White, Black and Brown! 😉
Women, I suppose, skip the news and Twitter and the games and spend more time on the other ‘more important stuff.
I assure you that one hand suffices mostly. 😉
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Aren’t you supposed to keep both hands on the steering(s)
I bet your iPad has a nice, convenient stand for hands-free “operation.” 😉
Thomas Watson supposedly said – “There is a world market for about 5 Personal Computers” and Bill Gates seemingly said – “Internet is just a fad”, although there are no direct sources. (But their actions in the past shows that there are sufficient grounds for they had such a notion initially.)
We don’t know what might happen when, in this industry. We currently cannot do a program in Tablet in the way that we used to do in a desktop. That’s like saying “I am not able to melt an iron rod in the electric induction stove, while I’m able to do it in a furnace.” Both have different ways of doing it, and different purposes.
If some means of programming through tablet comes up – without a need to type keywords, probably through voice (like Aswin Kini said), or improved shortcuts which generates chunk of codes just on few clicks, it will still be possible. There are apps already available to connect to a database or do simple javascript / HTML pages in the tablet. But typing a program is very intrusive in a tablet currently. Also, since programming is memory intensive, It might just take some time.
But tablets over a period of time, might replace many of these tasks. We can’t be so sure that something won’t happen in technology.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. My favorite quote on the computer industry will always be Michael Dell’s comment on Apple in 1997:
2. Predicting the trajectory of the computing industry is a task only for the foolhardy.
Except for Moore’s Law, all other forecasts and predictions have fallen by the wayside.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57526581-76/moores-law-the-rule-that-really-matters-in-tech/
SI said: “Apple has proven to be the principal beneficiary and leader in two of the fastest non-PC categories – tablets and smartphones.
Except for some highly specialized apps, there’s little an average person cannot do with a tablet. Plus, tablets are far more secure compared to the virus-plagued PCs and notebooks”.
I am not very sure about Tablets replacing PCs and Laptops in the very near-future. Maybe, it would be possible after a decade when the technology would be so advanced that we can input the data orally, even our passwords, despite the accent/slang.
I have personally worked with an iPad and Laptop. I found that while iPad is good for normal users like checking mail, playing games, watching news, videos etc, it doesn’t help me much when it comes to work. As my job profile requires me to multi-task with documents and do a lot of typing, I do not find iPad or any other tablet catering to my needs, especially iPad mainly due to it touchscreen keyboard and compatibility issues.
I think we should wait for a few more years before writing obituaries to PCs and Laptops.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Please see my response to the previous commenter!
I didn’t say your prediction is wrong, I just said it is too early to write the obituaries, especially considering Apple’s iPads… Unless and until they bring out an app, which will enable you to orally dictate code/sentences/paras/numbers effectively, PCs and Laptops will survive……
Just to give you one small example: Apple does not allow you to attach documents/pictures/other files in your mails via Microsoft Outlook… And as I know, many companies still use Lotus/Outlook as their primary mails…. So even if we assume that every company in the world switches to a Tablet, not necessarily iPad, we will see a lot of chaos due to the functionality glitches that occur/the compatibility issues…. An app/document in iPad may not function in other tablets and vice versa…
And unless Apple starts providing compatible apps with other platforms and reduce their prices to affordable levels (Hey no not US Dollar, I am referring to their prices worldwide), your prediction will take a lot of time to come true.
“Ifs and buts do not work in the real world” – Tablets, no matter how powerful they are, need to be finetuned to suit the daily needs of people. Once that process is done, we can happily declare Laptops and Desktops completely obsolete…..
But that, my dear friend, will take at least 5-10 years to occur…..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. I’m speaking of tablets replacing PCs mostly from an average consumer perspective, not from the business perspective (though even some companies like American Airlines are using it for pilots). So the question of compatibility with other platforms is not an issue.
2. With file sharing online storage available now, attachments are not a big deal even in tablets. Dropbox, for instance, has an iPad version.
Plus, there are other options for attachments:
http://ipadacademy.com/2012/03/ipad-basics-sending-an-email-with-an-attachment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYB2w82PW3c
3. Bottom line, for the average consumer the tablet is adequate for most tasks including browsing, e-mail, watching movies, TV, games etc. Tablets are obviously not suitable for a lot of businesses.
//Tablets are obviously not suitable for a lot of businesses. //
Now tablets and smartphones are coming to a lot of businesses where a PC’s size matters.
If you visit pinterest’s technology category, you will see a lot of gadgets being developed around iPhone and iPad, although some of them being conceptual. For ex, iPhone based photo printer, iPhone based health care monitoring gadget, mini projector, iPhone based credit card reader. Now consider this, you hold an iPhone, connect card reader gadget to it, and receive payments from our customer on the spot.
Tablets have other simple uses which I have not imagined. For ex, my father who does not know how to operate a PC, operates an iPad because of its intuitive design and easiness to use. During one of our recent tours that spanned for a week, on the move, Ipad helped a lot for booking tickets, booking hotels, watching maps and routes, finding where the next petrol pump and idli shop is, and usual stuff such as playing songs and videos thru Bluetooth in the car audio system, and web surfing. My friend’s dad is using it to place orders for his business, manage his travel, and find suitable partners for his son/daughter through matrimony application 😉 it definitely has opened new doors.
Surely tablets replace a PC in most of the routine tasks in a lot of small businesses and an ordinary user.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Now consider this, you hold an iPhone, connect card reader gadget to it, and receive payments from our customer on the spot.
Card readers on iPhone have been around for at least 3 years at Apple stores in the U.S. I paid for my iPhone 4 at an Apple store 2 plus years back via the iPhone credit card reader. Any purchase made at an Apple store in the U.S. now is through an iPhone with a credit card reader. About a month back, I got AppleCare for my iMac, ditto!
Plus, the Square reader (for iPhone and Android) has made credit cards accessible to small businesses too.
My auto mechanic near Philadelphia uses the Square reader (but on an Android device)….when I do my oil change I swipe my card on his reader & sign with my finger on his phone. That’s it….he gets his payment the next day!
Tablets are not suitable for all businesses but they’re making inroads into the restaurant industry where they’re becoming less uncommon than before. United Airlines is using the iPads for pilots – http://www.searchindia.com/2011/08/23/ipads-now-march-into-the-cockpit
While tablets will not completely kill PCs/Laptops immly, they are definitely hurting the desktop/notebook market and surveys prove that.
When I visited express avenue – a mall in chennai, I had gone to escape cinemas (owned by sathyam cinemas).
When we rushed into the restroom, we found that above each urinal sink, an Android running device was mounted to display ads in a random fashion that was controllable from a central system.
Of course they were not “touch enabled”
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Thank God, we don’t have ads in loos yet at most Regal or AMC Cinemas in the U.S.
India seems to have stolen a march over Madison Ave (headquarters of American advertising in Manhattan).
Interesting idea though…nothing like seeing ads of Thai masseuses while you’re holding your “Water Cannon” in your hand. 😉
Of all the Southeast Asian strumpets, I find Thai girls possessing the most class!
Some pics are here, the one towards last.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=656824&page=72
SearchIndia.com Responds:
The seats look far better than what we get in Anil Ambani’s crappy theatres here.