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iPad Drives Apple to Third Place Worldwide, First in North America for Mobile PC Sale

ericinboston said:
Before you folks rage...I own an iPad.

1)I love how this survey considers an iPad a mobile PC...but not an iPod Touch or an iPhone?...

2)And that an iPad is missing so many qualities of a laptop/netbook (camera, normal storage capacities, USB and other industry standard ports, ability to save files (other than picture, iTunes movies, and mp3s) on the unit, etc)...so the iPad really doesn't even compare to a traditional personal computer.

Surveys like this are useless. The iPad is a lovely device...and certainly not for everyone (example: people who already own an iPod Touch and/or iPhone and/or numerous traditional laptops). But to claim that Apple is in 3rd place worldwide because the survey is lumping an iPad into the mix is an injustice...the whole point of an iPad is that in its advertising and Jobs' speeches the iPad is NOT a traditional laptop/netbook.

What's next...comparing LCD monitors to printers?
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You've raised a valid point; what about netbooks - what is the difference between a netbook and ultra portable? how does one explain a 12inch laptop with an atom CPU in it? then there are those Sony hand held micro-laptops that are comparable to an ipad - should they get included with the sales totals?
 
lol!... they monitor the display industry? they can say what ever they want but seeing how even Apple does not include iPad sales in their Laptop sales numbers these numbers are useless (or their parent company NPD) - this is as silly as someone claiming PS3 sales as Sony desktop sales.

just wait for the Gartner and IDC numbers
 
I understand about iPad being included as Mobile PC but I don't know why some people keep insisting that iPhone or iPod Touch should be included as Mobile PC as well. If you include iPhone, then you would have to include every freaking cellphone devices as Mobile PC as they are also "technically" Mobile PC by definition.

If that happens, then Nokia would be #1 and Samsung sitting at #2 by mile, and would make this survey very misleading.
 
Somtaaw said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer

Please read before posting your silly definitions of what you think a PC is.
An iPad is definitely a PC, and so is any other tablet computer.
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ipad is not a personal computer. it cant even do the most basic tasks like file management or even update its own operating system without another computer. all personal computers have been able to do that. Even a PS3 can do those things and no one is calling it a personal computer.

Maybe in the future ipad will be a personal computer but it isnt one today. Even apple doesnt say its a personal computer
 
Kpjoslee said:
I understand about iPad being included as Mobile PC but I don't know why some people keep insisting that iPhone or iPod Touch should be included as Mobile PC as well. If you include iPhone, then you would have to include every freaking cellphone devices as Mobile PC as they are also "technically" Mobile PC by definition.

If that happens, then Nokia would be #1 and Samsung sitting at #2 by mile, and would make this survey very misleading.
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These categories are made up so that market researchers can sell reports. They have to pick some category cut-off, even though the categories actually overlap quite a bit, with regards to factors such as company profits, competition for consumer dollars, and even typical usages. The claim is that there is a lot of overlap for these factors between iPads and netbooks, but much less so for non-smart Nokia cell phones.
 
Dbrown said:
ipad is not a personal computer. it cant even do the most basic tasks like file management or even update its own operating system without another computer. all personal computers have been able to do that.
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Nope. The earliest personal computers didn't even have a file system (Apple I, Apple II before DOS, etc.), and the only way to update the "OS" on some of them was with a soldering iron. Neither of those features is in the definition of a personal computer.

BTW, the iPhone is perfectly capable of file management and self OS updating. iTunes is mostly in the loop to maintain Apple's security during these processes. Which are features added in addition to what you are calling "basic tasks", not because they are missing.
 
IPhad's are only 'cool' in the eyes of those that have them, to us normal people you look like idiots.

Drinking in starbucks on your iPads, trying to be cool ugh get some friends!
 
As someone else has posted, the core user on this forum is SO FAR REMOVED from the general population that any claims made here are almost useless.

The market shows what the market shows.


And as a general aside, I'm sure in the 60s, if the site DECrumors.com existed, you would have a whole set of posters talking about how those new-fangled Minicomputers aren't REAL computers. Why, you can't even have 1000s of concurrent users, and the CPUs aren't built from discrete parts!

And of course, if you had the chance to peruse HPrumors.com in the 80s, tons of people would be talking about how personal computers are just toys, and how they'll NEVER EVER OMG replace their DEC/VAX systems.

The times, they are a changin'.

iPad (and any number of tablets out there) do EVERYTHING most people need from a computer. There's a mantra in HCI circles: "You are not the user". I think everyone in this site needs to take a good, hard look at what their usage patterns are, compared to the "real world".

To the person that said something along the lines of "I can run 500 tracks of Pro Tools, while connecting my blender, my toaster, and my KORG Trinity". Dude. You SO don't get it. You're the fringe of fringe cases. For the other BILLIONS of users, the iPad (or the Galaxy Tab, or the Playbook, etc) does more than enough.

You're looking at the future. Not the exclusive future, as there will always be a need for more powerful machines. But they'll be reserved for people that actually need them. Just as there are still mainframes / minis / micros in use. You just don't see them, because most people in the world don't need them.

b
 
Winni said:
The one that runs Mac OS X AND Windows AND Linux and that supports external hardware. A crippled and restricted iOS device will never get there.
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Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Exhibit "A" of people who don't get it

;-)
 
garybUK said:
IPhad's are only 'cool' in the eyes of those that have them, to us normal people you look like idiots.
Click to expand...

What is an iPhad?

garybUK said:
Drinking in starbucks on your iPads, trying to be cool ugh get some friends!
Click to expand...

Well, you don't sound like you are making too many friends.

And please explain what you mean by "Drinking in starbucks on your iPads". I can't really figure out what the meaning of this sentence is. Do you mean "Drinking in starbucks while sitting on your iPads"? Well, that would be idiotic, never seen anyone doing this. "Drinking in starbucks, placing the coffee mug on your iPads"? That seems equally idiotic and not at all cool. Please express yourself clearly.

I don't know where some people get the idea that people buy Apple products thinking it would make them "cool". The Apple users that I know buy Apple's products because they work well, they look good, they last long, they are reliable, and they cause a lot less problems than any other similar products.
 
garybUK said:
IPhad's are only 'cool' in the eyes of those that have them, to us normal people you look like idiots.

Drinking in starbucks on your iPads, trying to be cool ugh get some friends!
Click to expand...

Sorry you feel that way and there are no Starbucks shops in my country. People bring their iPads and MacBooks and etc., because there usually free internet. Only morons buy Apple so they look cool, what's more interesting that even bigger morons think that people buy Apple to show off.
 
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firewood said:
Nope. The earliest personal computers didn't even have a file system (Apple I, Apple II before DOS, etc.), and the only way to update the "OS" on some of them was with a soldering iron. Neither of those features is in the definition of a personal computer.
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They may have been considered personal computers 20 years ago, but not by today's standards. The latest generation game consoles can do more than those old computers. No one is calling a PS3 a personal computer right?

BTW, the iPhone is perfectly capable of file management and self OS updating. iTunes is mostly in the loop to maintain Apple's security during these processes. Which are features added in addition to what you are calling "basic tasks", not because they are missing.
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Call it whatever you want. Speculate all you want. Fact of the matter is that ipad does not do basic things that computers are expected to do, and requires help from another computer in order to do them.
 
Dbrown said:
ipad is not a personal computer. it cant even do the most basic tasks like file management or even update its own operating system without another computer. all personal computers have been able to do that. Even a PS3 can do those things and no one is calling it a personal computer.
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My C64 was not capable of updating it's OS (it was hardwired to ROM-chips), so it's not a computer?

And since when is "file management" a requirement for title of "computer"? How exactly is PS3 capable of doing that? Sure, you can copy files over to it, but you can do that with the iPad as well.... File management is a means to an end, it's not the end of means.

Besides, you were able to run Linux (a standard Linux based on Fedora) on PS3. Was it then a computer? Why not? It was running a desktop-OS.

Fact is that lots of people are buying iPads in order to do things they would normally do with a "normal computer". I will be buying iPad next year. For what? Well, surfing the web, gaming, email, twitter, watching movies, listening to music, creating documents... All the same things I do with my "normal computer". So how exactly is the iPad not a computer, whereas a MacBook is? you are relying on technical definitions, when we should be looking at what people do with the device.

iPad is replacing computers (the traditional computers) for lots of people. It would be dumb to run around and claim that they are not computers. If they are not, then how come they are replacing computers for many people?
 
Evangelion said:
Fact is that lots of people are buying iPads in order to do things they would normally do with a "normal computer". I will be buying iPad next year. For what? Well, surfing the web, gaming, email, twitter, watching movies, listening to music, creating documents... All the same things I do with my "normal computer". So how exactly is the iPad not a computer, whereas a MacBook is? you are relying on technical definitions, when we should be looking at what people do with the device.
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This is very true.

However, categorizing after use is difficult, as different people use their devices for different things. My Windows desktop would be classified as a "gaming console", and my iPhone would be classified as a "PC", as would my macs.
Categorizing based on hardware/software features is a lot simpler, as long as everyone agrees on what features define what category. ;)
 
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Apple should be number 1!
 
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