


You just can't please some people





Sales don't currently agree.







Comments     Threshold


By Reclaimer77 on 4/28/2011 10:57:39 AM , Rating: 2
You act like tablets can't use bluetooth, USB, HDMI, DVI, or any of the other technologies available to PCs.

I know that, so? It's still not relevant!

Hint; the current iPad has USB input/output, HDMI output, bluetooth keyboard support, etc. This will continue to improve into the future as competitors push the bleeding edge. So all of your complaints? Gone. You can in fact type anything, get things done, play games, etc.

OH well that settles it, desktops are as good as doorstops now. /sarcasm

Guess what? Laptops had those input/outputs forever ago. It didn't kill off the PC did it? Why are tablets and phones going to be any different.

As others already pointed out, tablets and phones are ancillary devices TO the pc, not it's conquerors.

By michael2k on 4/29/2011 2:27:51 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, smartypants, laptops are in fact killing off the desktops. Have you seen recent sales figures?

US 2010: 26.4m laptops, 20.6m desktops
WW 2010: 15m iPads

Sure, in many developing nations the low cost desktop will still be a better fit than either a laptop or tablet, but the exact same HW that powers the iPad is available in a $99 AppleTV. I expect in 2012 the advent of Windows 8 on ARM will allow someone like Dell to create a $149 ARM powered desktop unit.

The only reason tablets and phones are ancillary devices is because the OS update to make them primary hasn't occurred. That $99 AppleTV I mentioned? Already gets OTA updates without a PC. Those supreme Android phones out there? Also get OTA updates. Within 5 years all these devices will be quite capable of being standalone devices.

By robinthakur on 5/6/2011 5:47:04 AM , Rating: 2
The direction things are going in has been telegraphed by the key players in the industry for quite a while now...namely cloud based storage with devices containing less local storage, and restrictions on what you can install (a la Apple's installing software through a desktop Appstore). The concept of owning what you purchase will be eroded to a point where you are literally just paying to use a service for video streaming, gaming, office apps, social apps etc. This works against the consumer but is the only way that content creators can garner a respectable revenue stream from their content apart from Ad ontent and tracking you.

Conversely, the concept of a full open platform allowing bit-torrent, rampant game and content piracy amongst other things is ONLY in the interests of the consumer, not business and as all previous attempts to restrict this activity has failed, the only way which has met any success is to have a fairly closed system like Apple's. Games have gone to consoles and iOS as they are far more easily restricted where piracy is concerned.

What is interesting, is how this is impacting the traditionally dominant Wintel partnership. Windows is generally not used on any of this new breed of mobile device (or at least I rarely see it) nor it is it likely to be despite the desperate death rattle of Microsoft on this front with an ARM version of Windows.

Desktops are unlikely to disappear completely. They will still exist anywhere that you need or want real processing power, but since the people that want this continues to shrink, as it's only really still researchers, some business users and gamers the industry will eventually reallign itself. I actually think that Apple shows you the way most pc companies will go in the future in that it does not sell that many Mac Pro's or iMacs anymore and sells far more Macbooks, iPhones and iPads.

