Posted on 05/12/2014 12:58:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
something tells me that this family does not have the $79 Kindles... no way...
I got an I-Pad as a gift about 18 months ago....I love it, but I find it is really for entertainment. There is no place for file storage, like a computer, so I use both.
/johnny
/johnny
The real reason is the drop in discretionary spending money.
I love my kindle it was more like 179 bucks but it is now my favorite bathroom buddy
Bingo
Also convertibles and hybrids I don’t think count as tablets...so those are probably hurting the trending in this chart.
IMO innovation (or the lack of) is killing tablets. Most tablets boast slower processers and poorer cameras than their same-brand, same-generation smartphone counterparts. Screen size is the only practical differentiator.
Here’s my take. Phone demand remains constant because phones go through more wear and tear and get outdated more quickly. I almost always NEED to replace a phone every two years because I wear it out. I have a two year old iPad right now with zero need to upgrade.
I think the author has a point, too. There isn’t a NEED for tablets in the same way as phones. A husband and wife may decide they need two phones, but many will have one tablet. Or none.
The real reason is the drop in discretionary spending money.
To attract business customers, tablets, including the iPad, need to support the needs of business rather than forcing business users make concessions to the device’s functional limits. While there are certainly plenty of tablets in use in corporate environments, it’s not always a happy marriage.
I will concede that there are a few tablets and tablets with detachable keyboards that are aimed at business users. But even if the uptake in business use were to grow substantially, it wouldn’t necessarily be enough to kick start tablet sales.
What’s needed there as many observers have noted is something more. There needs to be a useful new feature that makes business users suddenly decide in mass that they need to upgrade.
Unfortunately, it’s not clear what that something might be. Right now, tablets are a sort of technological one-trick pony. They do what they do nicely, but that’s all that they do. While you can force a tablet into new roles, that doesn’t make it a happy fit.
Also convertibles and hybrids...
I think you hit the nail on the head. I have noticed it in another type of business also.
I don't have room in my pockets for a phone, kindle, tablet, Franklinm Planner and a laptop. Give me something akin to an electronic Clipboard that does laptop/tablet functions and a phone and be done with it. Also allow a flexible membrane-ish keyboard and an pen or mouse option for us troglodytes :-)
World economy tanking and with it the disappearance of discretionary income. No surprise people spend less on items like this.
When we travel I carry my laptop and she carries an I-Pad, I do not like the I-Pad.
This is a prime example of using charts to make something that is good look bad.
Funny.
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