Tablets Perhaps Just A Blip in Time, Says Microsoft

[Guest]

Tablets aren't going to die. They'll be a niche - not a laptop or smart phone replacement. I already have a new top end smart phone with 4 inch screen, and I just cannot justify paying $500+ for the same thing in a fatter package.

For the same price, I can get a lap top that is way more powerful. Or for significantly less price I can get a netbook which is just as portable as a tablet - yet still has better performance. And I already have a great new smart phone with fun touch screen technology and vastly superior mobility over a tablet.

Tablets provide a specific combination of features, performance, and price - but can be beaten or tied in 2 of those 3 areas by each of the other the 3 common techs - smart phone, netbook, laptop. People already have laptops and smart phones. I think tablets will remain as a sort of high end netbook. I think the laptop / smart phone combo will be far more prevalent for the next 5+ years.

I think the nook color is the only really interesting tablet because of it's netbook-level price. I assume the only reason it's price is so low is that B&N is not making money on the hardware, intentionally keeping the price low so they can bring in all the money on book purchases. I don't think there are any hardware manufacturers that can afford to not make money tablets - thus tablets can never really get the price down to a level to beat netbooks. Hence, tablets shall be stuck in the expensive netbook category - for those with money to blow, or just have to have a huge smart phone.

 

[fyasko]

the tablet is just a stepping stone. so is 3d... both are cool to have but not innovative from a functionality standpoint. i wanted an ipad 2 really bad but i can't justify spending that much on an accessory... it's like buying a watch that costs 1000$, it performs flawlessly, it looks amazing, it will probably help your confidence enough to get a few numbers, but in the end it is merely an accessory. it won't help you any more-so than the alternatives but it is so sexy...

 

[Mathos]

In all honesty tablets could do really well. But, they would need a few things in my opinion for that to happen. A windows version that allowed them to actively sync with your nearby home pc and use it like a cloud server more or less, either via wifi or bluetooth. Bluetooth connectivity for cordless mice and keyboards, or the ability to accept voice commands via headset or integral mic, or bluetooth headset. And Wireless recharging, where all I have to do is set the thing down near a charging terminal or be within range of one to recharge it.

 

[Guest]

Here's a newsflash: most people are not "on-the move". Most people who own laptops do not regularly take them out of the house (or they take them to the office and back). Even at home they use their laptops in a specific place, plugged in the mains of course.
Yet laptops still persevere. Why?

 

[captaincharisma]

this debate will not be valid until a tablet with a real OS like windows comes out. i think dell already released one or will soon

 

[Guest]

I know this thread may be over, but I still want to comment because none of the above matches my observations.

I'm a Windows user who's also been using an Archos 101 Android tablet for four months now.

I can safely say the tablet is not a fad. The form factor fits very nicely into visual consumption workflows (such reading books, the web or other content, viewing images and maps, and viewing video.

With this gadget, reading the web in the living room or train or bed is very very comfortable. I love slouched reading! I've been reading back and forth between a current Star Trek novel and older text of novels from years ago without carrying additional text.

I started with an Android Phone. I loved it but thought reading didn't feel "right". Tablets offer that missing real estate I so badly desired.

Not all tablets are alike. For me I found something cheap and light, reminiscent of the Padd in a Star Trek episode. There are jobs to which it is better suited than either cellphones or laptops or full desktops and I prefer the tablet for those tasks.

 

[ProDigit10]

Nothing as unhandy as a tablet!
Typing goes slow, no hardware keyboard, does not sit in your lap or on an airplane seat table; low battery life, high manufacturing cost, not upgradeable, not productive.

Netbooks and smartphones are the future!

Smartphones with 480p resolution and the processing power for games and movies, and battery life of 10hrs, netbooks with mobile core i7/i5 CPU calculating power, and radeon 5650 capable graphics.

slates are on the rise, only to be replaced by what is practical, not what is good looking!

 

[lser]

Nothing is as unhandy as android-class smartphone... it just feels too small for reading. Really - try reading a book on smarthpone. And you cannot comfortably lay in bed with netbook and read either.

That the place that tablet fits very well; it's big enought to read a book on it and light enought to stay in your hand for more than an hour. And I can surf the internet on it, however not in as comfortable way as on laptop.

I do believe that netbooks and tablet lines will eventually merge; my tablet has external keyboard in leather case, making it very comparable to netbook in form with it connected. And I can imagine netbook with detachable keyboard too.

 

[jestern]

@skyline100

Netbooks aren't dead, not really.

They've simply advanced to where they're merging with the ultraportable laptop market. The processors which power them are faster, more effiecient and better at 3D than the the Atom variants and they're getting better and better.

Sure, you can still find the (non-Atom-powered) model with the lower power with a long battery life for simple tasks, but the term 'netbook' can no longer always be synonymous with an under-performing ultraportable laptop.

@Iser

I think this would be likely to a limited degree on the lower-end netbook segment, a netbook with a detatchable screen which functions as a tablet (I think I've seen a few models like this already), but I think tablets are really an interim transition to something even more portable and relevant, maybe Apples iScroll:

http://www.maclife.com/article/features/future_apple_design_2017_iscroll

I would probably buy something like that before I bought a tablet. Tablets only found relevancy through Apple's great PR marketing and fanbase and alot of customers with too much money (and a little smartphone envy no doubt) on their hands who needed a new 'Apple'-style to outclass their rivals. 🙂

 

[sinfulpotato]

Ugh, tablets have been around forever. Nearly as long as the modern notebook.

They where never popular, until a company that people buy stuff from because they think if they have their products they are a rebel and nonconformists... errr... come out with a tablet.

Kinda... interesting if you ask me, yet it makes me lose faith in the current generation.8

 

[Griffolion]

Tablets will cannibalise some netbook sales, as they already are doing because they can provide the same basic functionality at a higher level of portability than a netbook and in a more small screen friendly interface. But until tablets are able to run full pc software, expect people to keep their desktops / 15" or 17" laptops.

 

[Guest]

This is exactly the reason why I have trouble taking Microsoft seriously these days.

They build operating systems like Windows 7 which are "optimised for touch", and go on about how tablets are going to be the next best thing since sliced bread and then they announce stuff like this.

It makes Microsoft seem like they don't even believe in their own products anymore.

 

[hmohniii]

[citation][nom]southernshark[/nom]Ok so I'm a highschool teacher. Kids love the tablets. The fact that a high priced exec does not like them is meaningless. He should get out of his office and move about amongst the people. Or better yet he should be fired and they should hire someone who gets it. Kids love the tablet. They can game on it, use the camera, surf the internet, text their friends, etc.... This market alone will keep Apple in the black on this product.[/citation]

+ to this! I agree completely. People forget that there are other generations out there. THEY may think it's useless, but the younger generations can't get enough of it. It is what they use now and will use in the future. Where I work they are looking at what is needed to overhall the IT side and make it attractive to the upcomming generation to bring them in and continue to make our business side competitive. This isn't some minor thing, we are a 35,000 employee company, and other large companies are looking at the same types of things...things like non-assigned cubes and workspaces, getting rid of cubes, using more mobile devices like iPads and ultra-portable laptops, etc. They are looking at doing these types of things since the up and coming generations all do their college reading and homework on portable devices in open areas like Starbucks or even on the bus...basically extremely mobile. If I learned like that, why would I want to work at a place that is static and modeled after the way IT was done back in the 80s or 90s?

 

[HappyBB]

For now, I really think tablet is Apple's thing.