The PC is not yet in danger of becoming extinct, but its position as the primary computing device in most people’s lives could soon be threatened by the tablet.
Several analyst firms have recalculated their 2011 PC sales projections after noticing a trend in which more consumers are passing on PC purchases in favor of tablets. Gartner (NYSE: IT), for instance, now expects worldwide PC shipments to grow 10.5 percent this year, which is a downward revision from its earlier estimate of a 14.6 percent annual growth rate.
Gartner expects the biggest decline to come in sales of consumer laptops, which reflects the growing consumer preference for tablets. At the beginning of the year, Gartner expected laptops sales to grow a robust 25.1 percent. It now projects that rate to be 14.6 percent.
This trend gave Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs the confidence to declare that we are now in the “post PC era” as he was unveiling the iPad 2 last month.
While tablets — and the iPad in particular — are proving to be a big hit with consumers, I don’t think we can officially kick off the post-PC era until we actually see more tablets than laptops or desktops in the workplace. I also believe that the day when tablets overtake PCs for supremacy in the workplace is closer than many people think.
How Business Perceives Tablets
In reviewing their 2011 PC market projections, analysts noted that the corporate sector is the one area in which PC sales are not declining, and they expect that trend to hold for several more years. I disagree.
At the moment, PCs are holding their own in the corporate world because that’s what businesses are accustomed to buying. It takes time to shift a company’s purchasing apparatus — and Apple introduced the first commercially viable tablet barely more than a year ago. Any company locked into a purchasing agreement with another vendor hasn’t really had the option of buying tablets.
Even with nearly a dozen vendors set to release new tablets this year, some businesses may resist buying them due to the perception that these devices are built to amuse and entertain users rather than make them more productive.
That assumption will change rather quickly as more people discover that tablets can handle word processing, presentation and spreadsheet applications as well as most laptops, and certainly better than any smartphone.
Early adopters have been taking their iPads to work with them from day one, and they haven’t been shy about showing their coworkers exactly what these devices can do both in and out of the workplace. I’ve attended several business meetings recently in which people I would never have taken for technophiles have shown up toting iPads.
A rumor about the iPad 3 appeared in cyberspace. Which, if rumored iPad iPad next generation of 2 has to be present in September this year 2011. As information is quoted from Ubergizmo, out of nowhere beginning of this rumor comes to online media is now busy-busy talking about this hot topic. Yeng clear, recently came the rumor that the next generation of iPad iPad 2 will come sooner than scheduled.
As the most advanced tablet, IPAD 2 will be coming soon. iPad 2 including attractive in terms of appearance, this product is also strengthened with the innards of the top. For example, such as a graphics card with 16 ‘brains’ in it.