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iPad Drives Apple to Third Place Worldwide, First in North America for Mobile PC Sale
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people who buy an iPad as a genuine laptop replacement are fools.
I count myself in that category
Wow I know tons of people with them. They are very popular at work with our marketing, executive and materials management people. I have one and love it, and I got one for my mom who loves it. OUT IN PUBLIC? Not so much. I see them at work every day.
I saw a few others state this too, but I have to throw my big fat comment out there.
How can they consider the iPad a mobile PC if the iPhone and iPod Touch isn't?
A screen?
iWork?
Are those the differences?
But, good for Apple. It's so weird for to be using them for years, and now they are becoming the kingpins of the computing world. I'm used to them not being popular! Now every man and his dog has one. Pretty amazing feat!
How can they consider the iPad a mobile PC if the iPhone and iPod Touch isn't?
A screen?
iWork?
Are those the differences?
But, good for Apple. It's so weird for to be using them for years, and now they are becoming the kingpins of the computing world. I'm used to them not being popular! Now every man and his dog has one. Pretty amazing feat!
I think several people are trying to figure this out, but I also think it's pretty simple... it has to do with classification. For example, car vs truck. Both have 4 wheels, both have seats, carry things, etc... but one is a car due to size and design and the other is a truck.
An iPhone is a smart phone so it's categorized there. The iPod Touch is a media player so it's categorized there... so where do you put an iPad? Given it has a more productive size and can do the basics much like a laptop, then put it under mobile computing. I think it's that simple. At least until the tablet market gets big enough to make it a category on it's own. Right now it would be Apple iPad 99% market share and others 1%. Not really an interesting number.
Make sense?
If I were Michael Dell, I would juice the PC for all its worth and move on to the next thing... Wait, I got it all mixed up!
If ipad is a personal computer, so is Playstation 3.
Anyways to all those who are saying ipad is personal computer, now when the inevitable android vs iphone market share threads come up you cant say "but ipad and itouch should be counted too!"
Hat's off to apple... may you continue to grow. Hopefully apple will give us the consumers what we want. Better specs or at least more options in future computers
Bootcamp?Why not get a machine that runs everything(without hacks)?Windows,OS X,Linux,the whole ball of wax!
Statistics on OS usage used to include windows on pocket pc's. This is nothing new to include an ipad as a personal computer.
The thing is that computers are good enough today that depending on your needs, you do not have to max out on features. For many, the ipad is enough of a computer to meet their needs. The ipad matches laptops of not long ago.
When you think about it there are many people who would buy a personal computer 5-10 years ago who really only needed the features of an ipad. If you are thinking of getting a computer for your grandparents, most likely you want to interact with them through sharing photos, movies and chatting. They probably do not need to do a lot of spreadsheet work, let alone code writing.
10 years ago there really wasn't a viable option like the ipad and the name of the game was getting the latest and greatest CPU, etc. Today, a "lesser" computer by today's standards is just fine for many applications. People that don't see the ipad as a "computer" haven't adjusted to this.
The thing is that computers are good enough today that depending on your needs, you do not have to max out on features. For many, the ipad is enough of a computer to meet their needs. The ipad matches laptops of not long ago.
When you think about it there are many people who would buy a personal computer 5-10 years ago who really only needed the features of an ipad. If you are thinking of getting a computer for your grandparents, most likely you want to interact with them through sharing photos, movies and chatting. They probably do not need to do a lot of spreadsheet work, let alone code writing.
10 years ago there really wasn't a viable option like the ipad and the name of the game was getting the latest and greatest CPU, etc. Today, a "lesser" computer by today's standards is just fine for many applications. People that don't see the ipad as a "computer" haven't adjusted to this.
ROFL. post of the day.
Hat's off to apple... may you continue to grow. Hopefully apple will give us the consumers what we want. Better specs or at least more options in future computers
When will people on MacRumors get that they are not a representative of the general population?
for the general population they don't care about better specs or more options. They simply care that a computer/tablet device does what they want it to do, does it fast and does it with no fuss and mucking around.
Like it or not, that is what most of the population want, and that is why apple is never going to give options where it doesn't have to (they confuse people), is never going to publish specs if it can publish features instead. It's Sales and Marketing 101: you don't try and sell what people need, you offer them what they want. Then you'll get far more sales.
Odd, guess you need to hang out in more affluent areas.
Seriously, see them all the time now. Was at Paradise Bakery today and saw two people with them...
As others have said, if they are going to count the iPad then then need to count all tablet and handheld devices and phones.
What does it have to do with "affluent"? iPad is one of the cheapest mobile computers on the market.
All three devices are mobile PCs by definition. However, they compete in different markets. Microwaves and DVRs are both electronic devices, but they compete in different markets.
For the purposes of this market analysis, the "mobile PC" (different definition in this context) market consists of those devices that compete with laptops to accomplish the same task. Sales of the iPad have been shown to take away from sales of laptops. They compete in this market. The same cannot be said for the iPhone or iPod touch.
In an odd way you make a great point... if you think about it.... 4 years ago, Apple had Macs and iPods. Everyone scrambling to keep up with the iPod, Mac Hardware setting design standards, and MacOSX had Microsoft scrambling to save Vista.
Now in less than 4 years, Apple has redefined the Smart Phone market and leading the way in Tablet PC's eating up competition on many fronts.
In 1997 if you would have said 10 years from now, Apple will be the hottest tech company on this planet (again)... I would have said you were nuts - and I've been a customer/user since 1986.
But it does make you wonder... look what Apple has done in a short time... what the heck is wrong with everyone else? Why are they still struggling to find their Mojo? The only one even close is Google and Samsung.... most others have more misses and no hits.
I'm writing this from a plane on my iPad. The guy sitting next to me is watching a movie on his iPad. When I walked down the aisle to use the loo I saw iPads in use in almost every row.
The only problem I see with this survey is that they call the product category "mobile PCs". The whole point of the iPad is that it's not a PC but something else.
If,on the other hand, they had called the product category "mobile computers" I would have found it hard to argue why the iPad shouldn't be included in that category.
I mean, it's hard to argue that it isn't mobile, or that it isn't a computer, right?
Furthermore I think you put too much importance on how the OS of these different devices work, when you deem the iPad out of category. The fact that iOS works differently than say Windows doesn't really matter here. It's what people use them for that matters. In that regard I think you'll find that people use their iPads for pretty much the same kind of "light" computer tasks that they'd otherwise have used a netbook for. So why shouldn't the iPad be in the same category as netbooks when comparing marketshare? It is a mobile computer after all.
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Journalism Continues To Set Bar Lower and Lower
What rubbish!!! I plan on picking up the iPad2 but to call the iPad a "PC" shows the IQ of the author.
iPad is not a PC nor was it ever intended to be.
I have a MacBook Pro and run Logic in a recording studio. I can record dozens of tracks and have them play back in parallel. More importantly I can use the I/O ports to interface with a variety of devices from keyboards to preamps.
Even iPad G5 will not be able to do that.
Most MacRumor bloggers are better "journalists" than the authors who spout the crap that comes out of the so-called "professional" media.
What rubbish!!! I plan on picking up the iPad2 but to call the iPad a "PC" shows the IQ of the author.
iPad is not a PC nor was it ever intended to be.
I have a MacBook Pro and run Logic in a recording studio. I can record dozens of tracks and have them play back in parallel. More importantly I can use the I/O ports to interface with a variety of devices from keyboards to preamps.
Even iPad G5 will not be able to do that.
Most MacRumor bloggers are better "journalists" than the authors who spout the crap that comes out of the so-called "professional" media.
Neither can an Apple II, nor a C64, IBM PC/AT, et.al. (Nor some of the feebler current netbook PCs). But those are all personal computers.
Yes, that appears to be correct about your knowledge of the history of personal computing and the origins of the terminology.
I wonder what version of iPad will be the PC killer?
I think it will be more like the analogy Steve Jobs used to explain the iPad vs. the PC at AllThings D. The iPad won't make the PC go away, but the iPad (and other tablets like it) will be more akin to cars compared to trucks. Trucks will still be around, but most people won't need them for their personal transport. For that purpose they'll buy smaller and easier to drive vehicles, also known as cars.
And just like most trucks today are owned by companies for specific professional tasks, so will the PC's stronghold be as a corporate office machine.
For personal computing needs I think we will see tablet computers overtake traditional PCs in marketshare some day in a not so distant future.
By December 2015 perhaps? That'll be around iPad 6 ?
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I wonder what version of iPad will be the PC killer?
What model subcompact car will kill the full-sized sedan and pickup truck?
Note that the most profitable auto companies these days manufacture a full range of vehicles, including huge trucks, but emphasizing the small and green tech end.