News - Tablet demand growing faster than previously forecast

[HEXUS]

Mostly due to the popularity of the iPad.

Read more.

[crossy]

Hmm, can't say as I'm much impressed by this survey. First off, they seem to fall into the old trap of US=global, since - unless I'm very much mistaken - wasn't there that furore that Apple's "4G" doesn't work in most of Europe and Australia (and lord knows where else it's broken). In which case I can't really see the availability of a non-usable 4G radio being much of a draw.

Secondly, they've been forecasting a 7" iPad for years - folks are still waiting.

Thirdly, anyone that expects Windows8-Tablet to significantly grow the tablet market as opposed to "stealing" market share from Android and iOS is not someone who's opinion I've much respect for.

Lastly, I'd love to know what the justification for iOS gaining market share from Android - unless the author thinks either Apple's going to sue itself bigger, or Google's going to screw up newer versions of Android. Heck, there's more and more official Android tablets going out there - plus talk of an official Google store to sell them. So I can't really see that being a negative for Android sales.

I could go on, but it's a waste of time to do so since, as I said at the top, this "survey" (sounds better than "wet finger guess"), seems pretty poor quality.

I know, I'm in a grumpy mood today...

[3dcandy]

agree with most, but business will love win 8 tablets even more than ipads

[crossy]

agree with most, but business will love win 8 tablets even more than ipads

That's what I thought too - and I'm willing to bet that MS will make it very easy for corporate IT departments to control/admin those Win8 devices. Then you've got the pluses of the "standard" UI and application support.

So if this is the case, why would a business want iPads? Hence, Win8 tablets - if successful - will definitely take market share from iOS.

[3dcandy]

exactly...seems strange that the analysts don't get this point...

[Whiternoise]

That's what I thought too - and I'm willing to bet that MS will make it very easy for corporate IT departments to control/admin those Win8 devices. Then you've got the pluses of the "standard" UI and application support.

So if this is the case, why would a business want iPads? Hence, Win8 tablets - if successful - will definitely take market share from iOS.

This is a key point.

At the moment I'd rather get a Macbook Air than an iPad. All the people I know with them use them for kitchen browsing and occasionally gaming. I don't like gaming without either a controller or a mouse, the sorts of games I enjoy are primarily designed for consoles or computers. As for browsing, my phone is perfectly adequate.

Android tablets suffer the same problems as phones; too much fragmentation, the slightly unfinished feel and a miserable app store. I've had my phone two years and I still can't sort by rating in the market.

The one thing they do excel at is reading pdfs like textbooks. I have a Kindle which I adore, but it's not good enough for technical work. However, the Kindle was £150 and does what it's meant to do perfectly.

Microsoft needs to play this very well, Metro is great, but late and poorly marketed. They will shoot themselves in the foot if, once again, they neglect non-US markets. The Zune HD is a fabulous PMP, miles better than the iPod, but poor marketing meant it did badly. Similarly Windows Phone is good, it's just poorly marketed. The general impression I get is that the people who buy these hidden products love them (the Zune has superb reviews and the Lumia 900 sold like hotcakes), but nobody knows about them.

Clearly they're betting everything on Windows 8, so it'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

[aidanjt]

Clearly they're betting everything on Windows 8, so it'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

A giant smoking crater springs to mind.

[keithwalton]

Didn't Jobs once say that 7" tablets were pointless and that they'd never make one ?

There is only one thing in all of this that is certain and that is i'll never ever ever purchase an apple product and if anyone is stupid enough to buy me one as a present i'll list it on ebay for £1

[miniyazz]

Didn't Jobs once say that 7" tablets were pointless and that they'd never make one ?

There is only one thing in all of this that is certain and that is i'll never ever ever purchase an apple product and if anyone is stupid enough to buy me one as a present i'll list it on ebay for £1

That's odd, I can think of several situations in which I'm pretty confident you'd buy an Apple product.

Dismissing any and all possible products because they come from a certain company is silly. Judge them on their merits, then decide how much you don't want to buy it because they're an evil company, then decide which factor outweighs the other compared to the competition.

[peterb]

Didn't Jobs once say that 7" tablets were pointless and that they'd never make one ?

There is only one thing in all of this that is certain and that is i'll never ever ever purchase an apple product and if anyone is stupid enough to buy me one as a present i'll list it on ebay for £1

Can you PM me first please - save you the listing cost.

[crossy]

At the moment I'd rather get a Macbook Air than an iPad. All the people I know with them use them for kitchen browsing and occasionally gaming. I don't like gaming without either a controller or a mouse, the sorts of games I enjoy are primarily designed for consoles or computers. As for browsing, my phone is perfectly adequate.

iPad's are great "consumption" devices, but as content creation (apart from a few restricted cases) they suck. (imho of course). If I'm doing a long document or email then a netbook or laptop is superior. That said, there's a two word counter argument - "Asus Transformer" - best of both, and I still maintain that Asus got this design idea very, very right. I ditched my netbook in favour of the AT and I've not really missed it.

At the risk of sounding like a complete Asus fanboy, they're one of the Win8 tablet makers and, to no-one's surprise, the design leaks so far seem to show that a Win8 buyer can expect a "Transformer" type form-factor. So that's the combination of netbook and tablet - personally an arrangement that, assuming MS don't screw up the OS and Asus price competitively, will suit a lot of people.

I've also seen mention of other companies doing similar setups, where the tablet is the core of a "system", but not the only bit. Best one so far - excluding Asus's - was someone who's shown a tablet with a thin "docking station". The tablet docks and becomes the system display, with the dock providing ports (including a montor one!), allowing connection of a keyboard and mouse etc. Again, great portability but without the restrictions of a tablet-only mode of operation. Usual argument against this is storage ("I'm not going to have enough space!") but I just checked and my current laptop has 150GB of disk and my phone has 80GB, so it's a "doable" proposition to have a reasonable amount of space in your tablet - 128GB is easily reachable - 64GB on-board and another 64GB via uSDXC. Plus aren't we all supposed to be stuffing as much as possible in clouds these days - in which case maybe a "mere" 64GB on-board would be good enough?

iPad's USP is it's supposed ease of use (although I'm going to argue that a decent ICS tablet can match it), but Windows8 could be more flexible - and therefore a heck of a lot more "relevant" to most businesses. Heck, the last meeting I was at, someone commented that having to undock their laptop to take to a meeting was a pain, and that a tablet would have been a lot better solution.

IT departments (to my experience) don't much like iOS devices, so something that allowed the full range of group policy controls, etc would be preferred. And given their background, I very much doubt that a version of Windows8 for tablets in the enterprise won't allow these kind of controls

Android tablets suffer the same problems as phones; too much fragmentation, the slightly unfinished feel and a miserable app store. I've had my phone two years and I still can't sort by rating in the market.

I'm going to disagree with some of what you're saying here. Fragmentation? Yes, having all those cheapie devices (Archos, Disgo, etc) is bad for "brand dilution". On the other hand most folks will go with what PC World/Comet/Argos push - so that's the triumvirate of Samsung, Motorola and Asus (Advent if you're in PC World).
The app store is getting fuller but, like you, I still find it bizarre that Google - a company that made it's name in providing search - has delivered something so difficult to seek and sort. That said, I find a "push" from the desktop/web version is usually easier for the more esoteric stuff I'm looking for. Come on Google - pull your finger out!

Clearly they're betting everything on Windows 8, so it'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

As you say, MS are "betting the farm" on Win8, and given the trickle of promo's I've seen so far, tablets will be a core part of that. Personally I don't think it'll be as well received as Windows7 - but I think it'd be a very brave person who predicted it failing.

[keithwalton]

That's odd, I can think of several situations in which I'm pretty confident you'd buy an Apple product.

Dismissing any and all possible products because they come from a certain company is silly. Judge them on their merits, then decide how much you don't want to buy it because they're an evil company, then decide which factor outweighs the other compared to the competition.

Try some of these situations on me then...

As well iPod - not needed have a smartphone for that with unlimited music (and the data required for that) as part of of my mobile contract. Also has bluetooth link to the car.

iPhone - Have tried friends 3GS, 4 and 4S and there limited functionality and everything costing tuppence didn't appeal to me. I'll stick with my xperia s thanks, I like swype too much

iPad - If I was going to go for a tablet i'd get a transformer as it would spend most of its time doing e-mails / instant messages and a keyboard is a must for that.

macbook air - would rather an ultrabook far more choice over price, design and specs. + removable battery would help

macbook pro / retina - must admit those screens do have potential and are currently unrivaled but cost both arms and a leg and currently don't have anything that can take advantage of the resolution, i'd probably still go for a dull with a 1080p panel in it instead to give the gpu a chance at being playable

imac / desktop things - i build my own and upgrade them over there lifetime. The bulk of my current desktop dates back to 2006 and with a graphics and ram update in 2009 there isn't a lot it cant do and I have no intention of replacing it in the near or mid future

[wtfitskeagan]

Pfft. Tablets.

[miniyazz]

Try some of these situations on me then...

Apple sue all competitors into submission.. your phone/tablet/laptop breaks and you need a new one and they are the only option.
At some point in the indefinite future in which you've looked into to categorically say you would never ever ever ever ever ever buy an Apple product, they release a product which is just plain better than any of the competing products, at a better price.
Apple change their ethos on life and instead of suing people, spend their money on reinstating Firefly or something.

You might perfectly reasonably say that you have no intention of buying an Apple product but to come out with the sort of statement you did is either blind fanboy hatred, stupidity, trolling or (possibly) all three.[/QUOTE]