“Tablet PC shipments are expected to reach more than 240 million units worldwide in 2013, easily exceeding the 207 million notebook PCs that are projected to ship, according to NPD DisplaySearch
see Tablet PC Market Forecast to Surpass Notebooks in 2013, NPD DisplaySearch Reports.
Still think small cheap computers are just a fad, M$-fans? Keep dreaming. In two weeks if M$ does not fudge the numbers we should see a serious decline in “client” revenue…
17516
12792
206
3
2
23972 
11881 
11733 
4652 
4286 
1641 
198 
14 
2 
0 
0 
0 
I just wonder how long Microsoft, Net Application and the rest of the gang can keep alive the myth of Windows domination of market share. There will be near the 50%-50% iPad vs. Android tablet sale percentage. And what about those 207 million notebooks? Hardly even 60% with Windows licenses? There might be quite a lot MacBook/CromeBook among those rest of 80 million + notebooks…
Mats Hagglund wrote, “what about those 207 million notebooks? Hardly even 60% with Windows licenses? There might be quite a lot MacBook/CromeBook among those rest of 80 million + notebooks…”
Good point! Also, there are millions of GNU/Linux notebooks in there.
If you count all the servers, tablets, and smart phones then M$ has gone down to around 20%
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/12/13/microsofts-market-share-drops-from-97-to-20-in-just-over-a-decade/
The real tipping point will occur when people start to translate their experiences on the tablet or smartphone onto the desktop. Monopoly rents are where M$ makes its real money. When M$ loses the ability to charge monopoly rents, it’s ability to subsidize all kinds of mischief will go away. M$ won’t go away completely, without active clean up effort to deal with the leftover technology and individuals, but without the rents it will be a hollow shadow of the evil it is today.
Amazingly media forget how world will change during the next 30 years. Think about percentage of new consumers. About 7 million new Europeans were born last year, 4½ million new North Americans but about 36 million there in Sub Saharan Africa. And what about Middle East and South East Asia? Latin America?
How could anyone believe that huge majority of new consumers will buy $500 to $1 500 devices made by Apple and Microsoft? No – they demand devices with price of $50 to $150 and with free software. All what’s digital will be free – totally or almost totally no price at all. That’s the trend. That’s the reality. And that’s a nightmare for Microsoft.
“PC prices must rise, not fall, to solve Windows 8′s lousy start, analyst argues ”
No help for you Microsoft. Prices are going down. People and business want cheap, not expensive clients. Especially when majority of new consumers are there in developing countries.
Checkmate.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9235383/PC_prices_must_rise_not_fall_to_solve_Windows_8_s_lousy_start_analyst_argues
Windows is so bad, that thieves only steal Apple products.
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/13/01/08/1627208/microsoft-rd-burgled-only-apple-products-stolen
Most people don’t want cheap per se. They want things that show that they have taste and sophistication and have the means to acquire them. If you tried to stick your kid with one of those cheapo tablets that you see these days, he will hate you for it. If it isn’t an iPad, it isn’t worth taking out of the backpack.
Adults, too, are starting to see the light:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/poor-quality-tablets-could-harm-androids-reputation/10536
bw wrote, “Most people don’t want cheap per se.”
The last few times I was shopping, I saw people checking prices everywhere. Most people are not fabulously wealthy and do care about price. Even the big brands of smart thingies are designing cheaper models, even Apple.
I got my wife an iPad for Christmas. It was a little hard to find in stores, but I ordered it from Apple online. I got the iPad Mini with the 16GB and Wi-Fi only since Wi-Fi is pretty much everywhere now and 16GB holds more apps and pictures than we would ever use. It was only $329 and it does make the cheapo substitutes look like junk. It is a lot smoother operating and has a great camera. I looked at the Google tablet, but it didn’t have a good camera and was only about $70 less. You give up too much in name and function to want to save a few bucks.
Seven inch Android/Linux tablets with 32 GB of storage are available in single unit quantities for only A$120 in Australia. Quite a price difference – and it has more functionality than an iPad!