For those of us who continue to resist the idea that the PC is becoming extinct, Gartner has an interesting hypothesis.
According to Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, in a press release:
Whereas as once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet as personal devices, we increasingly suspect that most individuals will shift consumption activity to a personal tablet, and perform creative and administrative tasks on a shared PC.
The analysis accompanies Gartner’s report that worldwide PC sales fell by 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 90.3 million units. Consumers are replacing older PCs with tablets, but haven’t given up on PCs entirely, Gartner explains. Many users will retain both products, but tablets will be a personal device, while PCs increasingly will be a shared resource.
Either way, PC sales are declining. The good news for vendors, Gartner says, is that technology advancements are resonating with consumers. The disenfranchised PCs are those with lighter configurations, while average selling prices (ASPs) for applications-rich PCs are poised to increase when users do replace their older devices.
The transition period is likely to be painful for component suppliers, however. Even though retailers were able to clear their shelves on Windows 7-based PCs during the holiday period, there’s still a lot of Windows 8 PC inventory lying around. PC vendors were able to ship their Windows 8 products from their warehouses, but sell-through at retail and other outlets has been slow.
It’s unclear if PC makers will be placing new component orders, or waiting until existing inventory has cleared. The release of Windows 8 did not have a significant impact on PC sales, Gartner says.
Other highlights of the report:
Hewlett-Packard regained its No. 1 slot in worldwide PC shipments in 2012's fourth quarter with 15.2 percent market share
Lenovo dropped to No. 2, with 15.5 percent market share
US PC shipments totaled 17.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, a 2.1 percent decline from 2011's fourth quarter
PC shipments in EMEA totaled 28.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, a 9.6 percent decrease from the prior year
Shipments in Asia/Pacific totaled 29.9 million units in 2012's fourth quarter, a 1.8 percent decline from the fourth quarter in 2011
"The latest released ultrabooks which have high computational power and memory can be easily converted into tablets, So I am guessing these ultrabooks will become popular in coming days because you can use it as notebook or you can use it as tablet."
Anandvy, no idea. How a net book can be converted in to tablet? A tablet has his own features/specifications based on functionality and size.
One more concern about tablet computers, which was certainly valid for laptop computers, is power density. The desktop unt has a larger case that allows it to run a good bit cooler than the notebook or laptop computer, and running cooler does tend toward extending product lifetime a bit. The tablets are not as powerful as the laptop computers, so they don't get quite as hot, but they tend to be sealed, so they may suffer internal hotspots. So the increasing power density may well lead to a reduction in reliability.
William K, Correct. The tablet is not a workhorse and may not be for a while. Still, it is possible to envision a future where tablets have the capacity (storage and processing speed) of a desktop or a laptop and is durable enough to be tethered to a bigger screen on a desk. These are the phases that laptops went through before they became powerful enough to replace (for many people) desktops. If or when such a day arrive, employers will probably select this option rather than buy laptops.
@ anandvy,
For now tablets can never replace PC, but time will tell if we will soon have such device that can combine both tablets and special tasks of Pc.
@William,
Well, as at today, tablets can,t handle such task and that is what,s still keeping PC inthe mind of some prodlfessional, but I doubt if sooner than we thought,PC will soon be a thing od museum.
@ Nemo,
People with high computation job are quick to realise that tablets have not beenable to replace pc while people that do not have computational job to do keeps upgrading to tablets as a more comfotable device.
Does anybody do serious engineering drawings on a tablet? I don't think that I could do that, and I know that some of them would fill a tablet's memory, which would cause a problem. Also, the screen available on any tablet is just too small to be useful a lot of the time.
So I will not be replacing my PC with a tablet for a whole lot of years. I am sure that they are fine for emails and games and web searching, but a tablet just does not make it for design engineering.
Ariella: it was deliberate--he was trying to cover his tracks. Instead of history, he deleted favorites. Luckily, the sites most important to me were stored on my company's VPN.
That's also one of the reasons why we finally invested in another laptop.
I still do not get this - embedded software engineer/designer use tablet for FPGA/SOC/DSP projects or any software related works like that. Or am i just marooning in an island alone?
In my opinion, in the area of software development, CAD, animation and graphics related work, and such areas will still be dominated by PCs.
@prabhakar_deosthali, you are right but the same can be done if we use combination of cloud and tablet. Tablet will be more of a interface device where as back-end computation will be done in cloud.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Archived Dialogues
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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