Tablet PC vs. PC

With tablet PC sales soaring worldwide and the iPad 3 on its way, I will be looking at whether  tablet pc’s will take over PC’s.

Tablet PC Growth

When Apple announced plans to launch the iPad a couple of years ago, there were those who were unsure of how successful the device would be. Some critics thought that it was neither a PC nor Smartphone and that it had no real use within the market. However, sales for the iPad soared, proving to be a success with the release of the iPad 2 last year and the iPad 3 to be released soon. On the back of the success of the iPad, many companies including Samsung and Toshiba have released their own Tablet PC’s to enter the lucrative market.

 Why is the Tablet PC so successful?

There are a number of reasons for why the iPad is so successful; its main appeal is its approachable touchscreen interface that people universally find easy to use. A study by the NPD Group last year showed that the top three things that consumers have been doing with iPads are surfing the web, writing and checking e-mails and playing games. NPD also found that iPad owners regularly use their devices for social networking, watching videos and reading e-books with their light weight portability making it a real crowd pleaser. This shows that the iPad is a very versatile platform and an ideal means of ‘consuming’ information.

NPD wrote, “While lots of choices and compromises go into the development of any product, especially something as different as the iPad, these results indicate that most consumers are satisfied with their purchase and are increasingly finding ways to interact with their iPad.”

 

Projected Tablet Growth to 2015

 

Gartner researched that Tablet PC’s will be selling 60% as many units as PC’s by 2015. Furthermore, they predict that Apple’s iPad will still have almost half the market by then. Below is a table of Gartner’s sales forecasts from 2010 to 2015:

 

PC Decline

 

Whilst the PC is suffering a decline in sales, tablet PC’s, smartphones and e-readers continue to increase in popularity. It’s a tough marketplace for the PC at this moment of time and they no longer have a monopoly over the marketplace like they used to.  The UK PC market suffered its worst decline is sales for five years in the last quarter of 2011 according to Gartner, a 19.6% decline upon last year. The last quarter of 2011 also saw a decrease in sales by 13. 5% in the professional sector.

 

Other than the increase in the popularity of alternative PC devices, the current economic climate has had just as big an impact on PC sale figures along with the lack of innovation.  Ranjit Atwal, Research Director at Gartner, said:

"The PC has not changed as consumers and users have changed their habits,"

"One thing the PC makers have not done over the last few years is make products that are innovative in terms of compelling features and novel form factors."

 

"There's the need for a fundamental re-think of how we make these gadgets compelling,"

 For more of Ranjit Atwal’s views on PC growth visit, click here.

 PC manufacturers have already tried slashing prices to no avail. The PC market requires innovation more than anything in order to attract consumer interest and to push growth. The only PC platform to have increased its sales figures compared to last year is the Apple Mac, perhaps the most innovative out of all the manufacturers in the table above.

New Hope

There is hope ahead for the PC market with even Gartner predicting that things can only get better, and it’s hoped that major new games with heavily enriched graphics will help to drive upgrades. Ultrabooks released from the end of the last year is also expected to help reignite PC sales figures. The term Ultrabook was provided by Intel for a new generation of portable PC’s featuring their technology, however, it is now being used as a catch-all term for light, thin and ultraportable laptops.

Intel has reported that Ultrabooks have “ultra-capabilities” including greater battery power, instant-on, quick standby and enhanced security features. They also believe that the Ultrabook will be a lighter alternative to tablet devices for those who prefer to work with a full QWERTY keyboard.  To find out about Ultrabooks to be released in 2012 you can click here.

Summary

It’s expected that sales will continue to increase for tablet PC’s in the near future but not at the expense of the PC.  Tablet PC’s are still relatively new and fresh, appealing to the masses.  It’s true to say that the PC has had a tough time of it over the last few years competing with new innovative devices, however there is no doubt that the PC will bounce back in the near future and once again find a place in consumers hearts.It’s expected that sales will continue to increase for tablet PC’s in the near future but not at the expense of the PC.  Tablet PC’s are still relatively new and fresh, appealing to the masses.  It’s true to say that the PC has had a tough time of it over the last few years competing with new innovative devices, however there is no doubt that the PC will bounce back in the near future and once again find a place in consumers hearts.