An interesting variation on a tablet has been introduced in India. It has a few features suitable for content-generation as well as consumption:
a keyboard as an optional extra, and
a camera which can make videos.
Whether or not this offsets low-end hardware remains to be seen but it surely is competitive in price being a fraction of the cost of most notebooks. I would bet there is a market in India for such tablets. Apple is not interested and other Android/Linux tablets may lack features intended for business usage such as the keyboard and M$’s file-formats.
Chart: Worldwide Tablet Vendors Market Share, 2012Q3Description: Worldwide Quarterly Tablet TrackerIDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Tracker provides total market size and vendor share for both the Tablet and eReader markets in 46 countries. Detailed segmentation is provided by CPU, operating system, connectivity type, screen size and resolution, storage, distribution channel, and customer segment. Measurement for this tracker is in units, value, and end-user price. For more information, or to subscribe to the research, please contact Kathy Nagamine at 1-650-350-6423 or knagamine@idc.com. Further detail about this tracker can be found at:http://www.idc.com/tracker/showproductinfo.jsp?prod_id=81Tags: Samsung, Apple, Amazon, Asus, Lenovo, Tablet, IDC, tracker, Q3 2012, 3Q 2012, market share, galaxy, iPad, Kindle, Transformer, ideapad, 2012Q3Author: IDCcharts powered by iCharts
Apple tried every means legal and otherwise to monopolize the tablet space but they just could not hold back the swarm of Android/Linux tablets. They are not yet losing share in tablets the way they did in smartphones but it will happen sooner or later. Hiding behind invalid patents and false claims shows fear haunts Apple. FLOSS and ARM are just too good to allow Apple to claim a monopoly.
One of the organizers of the Northeast Linux Fest (March 16 & 17 2013 Harvard University) is blind and the advantages of FLOSS to a blind person convinced him to switch.
Jonathan Nadeau: “Once I started using a free screen reader with a free operating system, I had freedom in my own computing, and realized the importance of free software for accessibility — it is important for people who depend on accessible software to understand the freedoms that come with using free software, and no longer be stuck in a world of relying on nonfree accessibility software.
So I’m now an advocate of promoting the use of free software in accessibility and want to help educate other people who depend on assistive technology and explain to them the freedoms they deserve.”
This is yet another place FLOSS shines. It’s the right way to do IT of all kinds. I recommend Debian GNU/Linux. Debian has a summary of FLOSS assistive technology.
I have used some of this in a classroom with a nearly blind student. It changed his life. He loved computers and had been frustrated by the difficulty of using them. His attendance and attitude in school improved greatly.
My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.
My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.
I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.
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