Apple Poised to Become World's Top-Selling PC Vendor with Tablets Included

[*LTD*]

There's different markets of Computers.

Smartphones, Tablets, and PC's are the main ones.

PC's have different markets as well. Desktops, Laptops and Netbooks.

A PC Vendor makes PC's. Tablets are not PC's. Computers yes, PC's no.

If you think the iPad is a PC, then Why not add in the iPod Touch? It's a smaller version of the iPad? Why not add the iPhone? It's a smaller version of an iPad with phone capabilities. They are running the same software.

If you do, you might as well throw in all the smartphone devices and call them PC's.

Why stop there? Symbian phones can run applications. They have CPUs, GPUs, RAM.

BREAKING NEWS: NOKIA BECOMES TOP PC VENDOR


This is why the iPad isn't a PC.

It depends on consumer perception and the way devices are used by the average person, not contrived definitions that reinforce your comfort with your own world-view.

Joe Average doesn't consider smartphones PCs. He does, however, use an iPad like a PC. End of story. You don't have to like it. But it is why it is. Canalys is simply recognizing the trend. They aren't trying to provide a psychological/technical explanation. A lot of people in this thread seem to be begging for one, and as a result are tripping over their own words and concepts in order to keep their heads from exploding.

Change and the uncertainty in trusted, long-held assumptions it brings with it can be frightening.

 

[firewood]

If you do, you might as well throw in all the smartphone devices and call them PC's.

Why stop there? Symbian phones can run applications. They have CPUs, GPUs, RAM.

BREAKING NEWS: NOKIA BECOMES TOP PC VENDOR

If you were to study how the population actually does any personal computing in some 2nd and 3rd world countries, you might end up realizing that the above could actually be true in a few parts of the world.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

It depends on consumer perception and the way devices are used by the average person, not contrived definitions that reinforce your comfort with your own world-view.

Joe Average doesn't consider smartphones PCs. He does, however, use an iPad like a PC. End of story. You don't have to like it. But it is why it is. Canalys is simply recognizing the trend. They aren't trying to provide a psychological/technical explanation. A lot of people in this thread seem to be begging for one, and as a result are tripping over their own words and concepts in order to keep their heads from exploding.

Change and the uncertainty in trusted, long-held assumptions it brings with it can be frightening.

Most consumers do not see the iPad as a computer.
Apple fanboys do because it makes Apple look good
Places that want extra hits seem to do it as well because it gets attention. They are doing so at the expense of their credibility as a valid source.

LTD you seem to argue because some places do it then it must be so. Most consumers do not see the iPad as a PC but as a tablet. Tablet is not a PC.

But then again explaining logic to you seems to be impossible.
You care to explain a logical break down on why the iPad should be a PC? You have yet to do that.

 

[divinox]

Shuts eyes, fingers in ear: La, la, la iPads are not computers, iPads are not computers. I know, and only I know what a computer is. iPads are not computers....
Netbooks are computers!
The iPad will never, ever, be popular when there are netbooks.

The iPad will fail! You cannot write emails on it, you cannot print from it. You cannot add third party software. You cannot use it for work, you cannot make music on it. It cannot play games. You cannot use it to make or play movies. You cannot use it to access the internet, and you cannot add any third party peripherals.

Oh errrm wait a minute....

Opens eyes: Hey where's everybody gone?....

Still here. And, sorry for assuming you'd understand what i wrote. Here goes in clean print: No one is arguing that the ipad is not a computer. Hence, you're Spock-stunt made no sense. Replace computer with PC and you might have a point.

Now stop acting like an ass.

Cheers.

----------

That type of delusion is right out of the book "The Innovators Dilemma". A company thinks that some rapidly growing new market has nothing to do with the older market that they are good in. Until their allegedly separate market segment shrinks and they go out of business. In reality it was really one big market fulfilling similar customer wants and chasing the same consumer or business dollar.

In some 3rd world regions of the world, smartphones have already displaced and surpassed bigger PCs as the dominant personal computing platform among the population. iOS devices are now making the same inroads in some higher per-capita income regions.

x replacing y does not mean x equals y. if every smoker in the world quits tomorrow and goes on the gum, can we then conclude that nicotine gum is a cigarette? think, please.

p.s.

we do not need to include the ipad in the PC category to reflect changes in the PC (excluding ipad) market, even if they are due to external effects (such as ipad sales).

 

[Rocketman]

What folks crave to serve their computing needs is evolving. Steve simply juiced that evolution on smartphones and pads in his personal view of the right direction. Others have also shown directions they can serve such as Android, HTC, Nokia, RIM and others.

There will always be special purpose workstations for the forseeable future, but for the masses who are content users and limited capability content creators, a mere smartphone which is a full fledged computer, and even TV studio, is increasingly capable, deployed and adopted.

Rocketman

 

[divinox]

He didn't say iPads are not computers. Quite the contrary, I think divinox agrees that they are. He, just like me, doesn't believe they belong in the same segment as laptops and desktops.

There are many segments in the much larger computer market. Tablets deserve their own, separate segment.

Of course they are computers, what else would they be? coasters? :- )

Exactly what a PC is, is hard to say. Perhaps one is best of contrasting the ideas of Jobs v. Gates at allthingsd (and later the interpretation of Ballmer, in 2010). Not sure if i buy into the Post-PC epithet, but with that Jobs at least highlights one aspect worthy of consideration: the relational aspect.

 

[SandynJosh]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Tell me when I can buy the iPad 3!

Patience, young Grasshopper. All will come to pass in due time.

As much as I liked my iPad, I certainly do not class it as a computer. The tablet market should be classed as something separate in my mind.

I know what you mean...it seems wrong to classify something as revolutionary as an iPad with those onerous old Windows relics.

Cool. Glad to be an AAPL stockholder.

Give me half your AAPL stock and we'll both be happy!

It's a computer if it computes, accesses data, and is programmable enough to be readily adapted to a very diverse set of applications. It's a personal computer if it's a computer and it's personal.

iPads fit.

Back in the mid-70s a desktop calculator that could multiply and divide was generally called a computer. Before then, the term applied to the person who worked with numbers. So, the definition of "computer" has undergone some revision...

I think when Jobs said this is the "post-PC" era, he was hinting that we will be seeing the iPad revising our concept of what what a computer really is morphing into.

 

[divinox]

To-may-to, to-mah-to.

Semantics are killing this thread. LOL

----------



Not as much as they used to, evidently . . .

http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/11/21/hp.q3.2011.results.held.down.by.split.talk.ipad/

HP revenue, profit drop in Q3 as home PC sales flatten out

“HP reported dour results for its third quarter of the year that showed the weight both of its own indecision and pressure on its core PC business,” Electronista reports. “Its revenue was down three percent to $32.1 billion, but its profit dropped a steep 91 percent, down to just $200 million. Gains in its services and software were more than offset by drops in the PC and printer businesses, each of which saw their own revenue drop two and 10 percent respectively.”

“The PC group was weighed down most by home buyers shying away. Its work PC revenue was up five points, but customers were steering away from home PCs and led to a nine-point drop in revenue for the divisions that made the Pavilion and Envy lines,” Electronista reports. “HP wouldn’t give shipment numbers, although it said the volume had grown just two percent over a year ago, with desktops up five percent and notebooks advancing just one point. It cost about $1.5 billion to shut down the webOS hardware group, HP said, and a total of $3.3 billion in overall expenses.”

Electronista reports, “HP expected its profit to recover but, in a sign of reduced confidence, decided it would now strip out most of its outlook and give only its profit expectations in terms of earnings per share. Under this view, it would see profit bounce back from about 12 cents per share to between 61 to 64 cents, but it wouldn’t say whether this would come with declining revenue.”

----------------------------------------------------------------

The winds of change . . .

"...sales flatten out". how many did they sell before they flattened out? millions. how many do they sell after it flattened out? millions. do you want a cookie for highlighting that the consumer market is highly saturated? that the consumer market is trending towards new computing devices? don quixote, much?

Also, with w7 soon to hit 500 million licenses, the rumours of the PCs death have been greatly exaggerated. that said, nothing climbs to the stars, and every technology has its time and place. nothing will stand in the way of the trend towards ubiquity, then again, we knew that 3 decades ago. so what?

p.s.

if you actually read what you quote, it says that volumes are up 2%. that seem to imply that they are selling "more than they used to", not less.

----------

It depends on consumer perception and the way devices are used by the average person, not contrived definitions that reinforce your comfort with your own world-view.

Joe Average doesn't consider smartphones PCs. He does, however, use an iPad like a PC. End of story. You don't have to like it. But it is why it is. Canalys is simply recognizing the trend. They aren't trying to provide a psychological/technical explanation. A lot of people in this thread seem to be begging for one, and as a result are tripping over their own words and concepts in order to keep their heads from exploding.

Change and the uncertainty in trusted, long-held assumptions it brings with it can be frightening.

While he might use it like he uses his PC, that does not mean that he considers it to be a PC*. And, after all, Jobs didnt consider it to be a PC - and he understood Joe Average, right? ;- )

* we dont consider nicotine gum to be cigarettes, or books to be kindles - yet we chew nicotine gum to substitute smoking, and well, use our kindles to read. like stated many times by now: x replacing y does not mean that x equals y.

----------

What folks crave to serve their computing needs is evolving. Steve simplt juiced that evolution on smartphones and pads in hos personal view of the right direction. Others have also shown directions they can serve such as Android, HTC, Nokia, RIM and others.

There will always be special purpose workstations for the forseeable future, but for the masses who are content users and limited capability content creators, a mere smartphone which is a full fledged computer, and even TV studio, is increasingly capable, deployed and adopted.

Rocketman

A fact i think no one is really arguing.

 

[Garion]

Before the usual PC-apologists jump in and cry "Objection! iPads are not PCs!", I just want to remind everybody that we have it straight from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, that the iPad IS a PC!

He said that quite clearly in a video-interview with Walther Mossberg at AllThingsD in 2010.

See for yourself (at 3:50): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWkRgNTJZuM

 

[*LTD*]

M

But then again explaining logic to you seems to be impossible.
You care to explain a logical break down on why the iPad should be a PC? You have yet to do that.

Talk to Canalys, then DisplaySearch, and then Gartner and NPD when they start doing it too.

Have them explain their data to you.

Apple's iPad actually carries a higher average selling price than Windows PCs, resulting in some comparisons between the two in consumers' minds when making purchasing decisions. Apple has acknowledged that the iPad is cannibalizing Mac sales to some extent, but notes that it is happy to make that tradeoff given that PC users in general are undoubtedly making similar decisions to opt for the iPad. Consequently, Apple's relatively small share of the PC market indicates that significantly more Windows PCs than Macs are being left on the shelves in favor of iPads.

http://www.zdnetasia.com/apple-to-overtake-hp-for-pc-crown-62302959.htm

Total pad shipments are expected to reach 59 million units by the end of 2011, with Q4 volumes predicted to exceed 22 million. While the iPad will dominate in Q4,


Connect the dots. Canalys is basing their analysis on consumer-driven trends.

"A logical break down on why the iPad should be a PC" isn't relevant.

----------

Before the usual PC-apologists jump in and cry "Objection! iPads are not PCs!", I just want to remind everybody that we have it straight from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, that the iPad IS a PC!

He said that quite clearly in a video-interview with Walther Mossberg at AllThingsD in 2010.

See for yourself (at 3:50): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWkRgNTJZuM

There you go. It's in Ballmer's best interest to say this anyway, since he knows the way forward is this, as he says . . . "different form factor of PC." Because without Windows (successfully) on tablets, MS is totally out of the next-gen computing game.

 

[AidenShaw]

We'll just have to see....

We'll just have to wait and see if the general trend is to include tablets, or if the analysts that include tablets always have to have the footnote

* includes touch-screen tablets​

to warn that their numbers are inflated.


To me, if you include the Ipad - how can you logically justify not including the Iphone? The Iphone is just a more capable (voice radio) Ipad with a smaller screen.

Include both the Ipad and the Iphone, or exclude both of them. Including only one is not logical.

 

[leroypants]

With my pc I can go to any website I want and "It just works" unlike websites on the iPad, of which atleast half have missing content.

With my pc I can play any and every video or audio format I want, unlike the iPad which only allows me to play apple approved formats.

With my pc I can load any software I want, unlike the iPad which apple decided what software I can and can't load.

With my pc if I need extract storage I can just plug in an external drive, unlike the iPad.

 

[AppleScruff1]

With my pc I can go to any website I want and "It just works" unlike websites on the iPad, of which atleast half have missing content.

With my pc I can play any and every video or audio format I want, unlike the iPad which only allows me to play apple approved formats.

With my pc I can load any software I want, unlike the iPad which apple decided what software I can and can't load.

With my pc if I need extract storage I can just plug in an external drive, unlike the iPad.

Don't be raining on the parade with facts and logic.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Talk to Canalys, then DisplaySearch, and then Gartner and NPD when they start doing it too.

Have them explain their data to you.

You did not answer my question just deflected.

Are you afraid to answer the question LTD or did you have to give up your ability to think for yourself when you entered the church of Apple and consider SJ your god?

I already pointed out my response to those. They are willing to discredit themselves to get hits but does not change the fact that it is still crap.

 

[AidenShaw]

...when you entered the church of Apple and consider SJ your god?

 

[*LTD*]

You did not answer my question just deflected.

Are you afraid to answer the question LTD or did you have to give up your ability to think for yourself when you entered the church of Apple and consider SJ your god?

I already pointed out my response to those. They are willing to discredit themselves to get hits but does not change the fact that it is still crap.

I don't have an answer. My answer would be irrelevant anyway, in this case. It's not my determination to make.

Why would they be discrediting themselves? DisplaySearch is doing it too. Soon, Gartner, NPD and all the rest will follow. They'll all be getting hits.

At what point does them "discrediting" themselves become a reflection of the market norm?

We're just going to end up seeing these analyses go further and gradually be repeated industry wide, as a reaction of consumer activity and perception. There's little point in trying to fight it.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I don't have an answer. My answer would be irrelevant anyway, in this case. It's not my determination to make.

Then I question your ability to think for yourself and just putting out the "Apple is great" crap.
Hell your lack of answer gives more credit to the fact that places like DisplaySearch and others are doing it for hits and it is crap to begin with.

Why would they be discrediting themselves? DisplaySearch is doing it too. Soon, Gartner, NPD and all the rest will follow. They'll all be getting hits.

At what point does them "discrediting" themselves become a reflection of the market norm?

They do it for hit. It gets more web hits with head lines like that. More hits means more detailed break downs will be bought.
First one to do it more than likely worked out well the first round. Then it is follow the leader.

Either way the lack of your answer to the original question is more proof of that. That or option 2 and that is you can not think for your self any more.

 

[*LTD*]

Then I question your ability to think for yourself

I've thought for myself, and I've decided to come to terms with the future. Better to get comfy with new market realities than indulge in angst.

and just putting out the "Apple is great" crap.

Well, they are pretty good. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Tablets included in PC figures?? The very idea might have sounded inconceivable a few short years ago, but here we are, talking about next-gen computing, which began with the iPad.

Credit where it's due, and any way you slice it, Apple is due a good chunk of it. Which I know you find infuriating, but I don't make reality, I just live in it.

Hell your lack of answer gives more credit to the fact that places like DisplaySearch and others are doing it for hits and it is crap to begin with.

Big news that signals sea changes in the market will, by its very nature, get big hits. These analyses aren't being pulled out of thin air. There is clearly a basis for them. The iPad-as-PC consideration is already part of the discourse - has been for well over a year.

They do it for hit. It gets more web hits with head lines like that. More hits means more detailed break downs will be bought.


First one to do it more than likely worked out well the first round. Then it is follow the leader.

Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Either way the lack of your answer to the original question is more proof of that.

I'm not contesting the analysis. Quite frankly, based on consumer behaviour and perception, in addition to evidence that the iPad has indeed been cutting into PC sales to some degree (which is simply a reflection of consumer perception) . . .

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/03/technology/tablet_pc/index.htm

. . . the decision to lump the iPad in with traditional PC figures isn't all that inconceivable, and given the drastic changes that are going on in this market, is rather prescient of them.

In due course those left screaming against it will just be lone voices in the wilderness.

 

[Jerome Morrow]

lots of people, or perhaps... businesses. regardless, they sell millions.

Every time they sell one a kitten dies. Why do you think they hate kittens so much?

 

[thenerdal]

It depends on consumer perception and the way devices are used by the average person, not contrived definitions that reinforce your comfort with your own world-view.

Joe Average doesn't consider smartphones PCs. He does, however, use an iPad like a PC. End of story. You don't have to like it. But it is why it is. Canalys is simply recognizing the trend. They aren't trying to provide a psychological/technical explanation. A lot of people in this thread seem to be begging for one, and as a result are tripping over their own words and concepts in order to keep their heads from exploding.

Change and the uncertainty in trusted, long-held assumptions it brings with it can be frightening.

I use my computer to watch TV shows. Therefore, using what you said, it is a Television?

 

[Jerome Morrow]

Don't be raining on the parade with facts and logic.

You call delusion and word twisting 'facts and logic' now? What are you smoking people.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I'm not contesting the analysis. Quite frankly, based on consumer behaviour and perception, in addition to evidence that the iPad has indeed been cutting into PC sales to some degree (which is simply a reflection of consumer perception) . . .

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/03/technology/tablet_pc/index.htm

. . . the decision to lump the iPad in with traditional PC figures isn't all that inconceivable, and given the drastic changes that are going on in this market, is rather prescient of them.

In due course those left screaming against it will just be lone voices in the wilderness.

Sorry but that has no baring on the fact that on the iPad belong in the PC category.

Yes it can effect PC sells but does not mean that it belong in the same catigory.
Is a car a truck just because people were buying more cars instead of trucks. No.

Same reason apply here.
So yet again LTD you have yet to provide any reason on why other than *BLANK* group says so. You are just dodging the question. Your lack of supplying a reason is more proof of said fact that it is crap reason. You just are doing the Apple worship.

 

[thenerdal]

I do not predict Apple to be the World's Top-Selling PC Vendor because they were not in the top 5 PC Vendors last year at all. I have no idea how they would climb up to #1 so fast.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I do not predict Apple to be the World's Top-Selling PC Vendor because they were not in the top 5 PC Vendors last year at all. I have no idea how they would climb up to #1 so fast.

That because number playing is going on at putting a oversize iPod touch in the PC category where it does not belong by some groups willing to hurt their credibility to get more hits.

 

[JAT]

Then I question your ability to think for yourself and just putting out the "Apple is great" crap.

This whole thread is discussing industry marketing terms. I'm sorry, are you for or against LTD deciding industry terminology for you?

Do you EVER know what you are saying?