back to article iPad to lead netbook and Kindle market munch

Tablet sales will more than double in the next year, with general-purpose machines taking business from mini notebooks and single-function tablets such as Amazon's Kindle. The iPad will drive sales of media tablets in 2011, with 54.8 million units projected to ship worldwide according to Gartner compared to 19.5 million …

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  1. studentrights
    FAIL

    iPad crushes Netbook

    That sums it up... while Android is diminished by iOS on Verizon.

  2. JonHendry

    Not so much the kindle, more the also-rans

    I doubt the iPad will hurt the Kindle much. Maybe the DX, but not the smaller size.

    I could definitely see the iPad and other general-purpose tablets hurting the also-ran ebook readers and kindle clones.

    1. Michael C

      kindle is not a device...

      its a platform.

      Have you not read the articles regarding this? Amazon;s kindle book sales on iDevices and other software platforms actually exceed their sales on kindle devices directly. Amazon;s model is to sell books, their device is just a simple additional revenue stream, but not the focus of it. The kindle e-book reader exists because of the store, not to support it.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    IPad/Netbook

    Why do people seem to think Tablets will eat into Netbooks market?

    The iPad starts at almost twice the price of a cheap netbook, has less functionality and less battery life. Netbooks took off because they were good enough devices that were amazingly cheap. You didn't need to lug around a big laptop in university because a netbook can take notes, nor do you need a big 17" laptop for quick browsing on the sofa.

    I remember playing with Tablets in 2002/2003 and for the first five minutes it was cool and then using the touch screen for data entry got old very fast. I recently played with an iPad and found exactly the same issue. Tablets work, but not in the same space as desktop/laptop computing.

    Don't get me wrong the iPad is lowering ebook reader prices to the point where I'm considering buying one. I just don't think the market space covered by netbooks is the same as a iPad.

    1. Marky W
      Stop

      Munch, munch....

      They'll eat into the netbook market because there's a whole slew of people who use their netbooks only to browse or consume media. The experience offered by the iPad to those people is waaay superior to an average netbook, plus it can be used by your gran (not mine obviously, as she's dead).

      Even though I'm a lifelong iPhobe(TM), the iPad is pretty tempting.

    2. Michael C

      Wrong

      Major universities do NOT allow or recomend netbooks to students. Lack of a Pro version OS means the devices can not be a part of the university networks. They also have significant trouble consurrently running both requires student software (typically MS Office), and the security software required by the university. They also have issues with video playback in most cases (only netbooks north of $500 can typically decode H.264 feeds). They're simply underpowered and under-capable. The vast majority of netbook sales are actually to individuals who can not afford a real notebook, or to those who will not give up the power/price/performance ratio or convenience of large screens and numerous connected devices a desktop provides while also requiring a portable device.

      I've never seen a Netbook get over 10 hours of runtime, have you? Some come close, but only under "ideal" conditions. The iPad can play video, on wifi, with BT enabled for 10 concurrent hours, and can act as an e-book reader for nearly 16 or play music for more than 3 days. Netbooks can not do that, and anything that lasts "a full day" on a charge is good enough, especially if it can be charged off a USB port in your car...

      Netbooks don't do portrait mode, and the very low res on sub 13" netbook screens (most 600v lines or less) is really unideal for web surfing. This is a killer feature of modern tablets. Better screens than netbooks and better use flexibility.

      netbooks don't do 3D games and other entertainment.

      Netbooks are not instant on. most are abysmally slow to boot.

      netbooks don't do AirPlay and stream media to TVs wirelessly.

      Tablets in 2003-now have been bulky, thicker and heavier than traditional notebooks let alone netbooks, and had limited functionality, designed mostly for form entry and menial tasks. The OS experience on a tablet has been horrible, with no thought to use cases for touch/multitouch in the OS, just a "quickie" port and a virtual keyboard. They simply do not compare to media centric tablets like the iPad and lite OS versions designed for touch.

      What netbooks do well? Powerpoint. (which tablets are encroaching on, and the iPad itself doesn't do bad at unless you require presenter modes or dual screen displays).

      The tablet is NOT to replace your notebook, it is to SUPPLEMENT it, without itself being treated as, maintained like, and licensed as another machine. That's what you don't get i can have 80% of my notebook functionality on a device that easily syncs, needs no backups, and uses $1-10 apps instead of $50-399 apps. Besides, app functions on the iPad are dramatically improving, and throw VNC on top and you can in fact do everything your desktop at home can.

      A netbook might be $299, sure, a really shitty low end one that can't do H.264 and has no 3G (or has it with a 2 year contract at twice the monthly rate of AT&T for an iPad). Then add Office, AV, backup, windows upgrades, and more? Its no longer cheaper...

      netbooks may be more capable, but what they fill in beyond what a tablet offers is still available on the other machine you already own. They're less convenient, less weather resilient, less secure, and fail at media. They also have very slim profit margins, where Apple can lower the price of the iPad another $200 and still have bigger profits (and they admitted on day one the pricing was "flexible" and they'de see what the competition could do). Netbooks will not survive, except as a niche business for specific tasks (much as other tablets are today).

  4. Dave Foster

    easy choice

    Hmmm, £429 for the cheapest iPad or £149 for the Kindle. Difficult choice if you just want to read books!

    1. Ryan Barrett

      £109 for the Kindle...

      ..it's no contest. Plus the battery lasts forever.

    2. Fuzzysteve

      only if you want 3g

      wifi only is 109. and the cheapest ipad's wifi only too.

    3. Arctic fox
      Thumb Up

      @Dave Foster

      Yes, just got my kindle 3 (WiFi and 3G version). Slips into the inside pocket of my jacket without my knowing its there. Its perfect for the job (library in your pocket plus music, a little limited surfing, web-mail etc). Build quality and function contra price is a very pleasant equation. Horses for courses really. You can read, listen to music and check your e-mails. For the money its perfect. If you read a lot (I do) then not having to use a backlit screen is a real blessing.

    4. Camilla Smythe

      Hmmmm.

      Book from WHSmith, are they still around, or bookshop £4.99. Kindle book from Amazon £5.49 + £149 for Kindle £154.49

      Uhm... errr.... errrrrrrrrrr

  5. Tony Paulazzo
    Happy

    Jobs bitch

    Yea, I folded, just got me an iPad - and loving it, not just the build quality, but the clarity of the screen, reading my ecomics and drm free epub books is a great experience (I only tend to read in bed before falling asleep). Battery life is fantastic (36 hours from first charge and still showing 47%) - and turning on from cold takes 15 seconds.

    I just got bored of waiting for the competition to bring something decent to market - and I still have the option to jailbreak.

    iTunes is still crap, but the synching aspect isn't as awful as I feared it would be, the user options are pretty wideranging.

    Windows desktop, Linux laptop, Android HTC Desire, Apple iPad - geek central.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    a question of definitions

    The future has lots of devices. Big ones, small ones, pink ones, shiny ones. E-paper and OLED and technologies not yet perfected. Keypads and no keypads. We have lots of choice, and will have more. That might be bad and consumeristic, but it's the way our world works. Even categorizing all these devices is kind-of tricky, and will be more so as hybrids and cross-overs are developed.

    I'm sure that the market will ebb and flow. The ipad isn't going to kill the kindle and the kindle isn't going to kill the ipad. Smartphones aren't going to eclipse dedicated SatNavs - though they will give them a run for their money - and so on.

  7. Goat Jam
    Thumb Up

    I don't expect to get an iPad

    but I really hope the Cult of Jobs gives the mainstream PC market a good hard rogering.

    Without lube.

    Until those craven idiots that operate under the Wintel regime collectively grow a pair the entire industry will continue to produce uninspired dreck that targets the lowest common denominator and has very little of interest to anyone other than spreadsheet wielding corporate drones.

    Asus created an interesting market (accidentally it would seem) with the original eeepc but it didn't take long for them to succumb to the pressure coming from their Wintel masters who ran a very successful campaign to kneecap that particular market in its infancy in order to stop it eating into their more profitable markets.

    They then aborted the Smartbook market in utero.

    For Wintel it is not about providing what the customer wants but providing what is best for Wintels bottom line. It is a sign of their arrogance that they believe that they can dictate to their customers in such a way. They have been doing that since the start of the 90's and by now I doubt that they are even capable of operating in any other way.

    This is textbook behaviour from companies that operate entrenched monopolies.

    Fortunately, this sort of market arrogance does not last forever because there is always someone else who comes along and offers consumers the products that they want that the prevailing monopolist will not (or cannot) provide.

    The various OEM's that the Wintel Empire rides on the back of do have a choice but to this point they have been too afraid to break free of the yoke.

    Hopefully apple will show them the way and they will finally come to realise that products can succeed without them having to suck on the sour teat of the Wintel monster.

  8. JaitcH
    Unhappy

    Some lead ... iTablets didn't sell as wll as forecast

    Looks like Apple is eating it's forecasts with sales showing a flattening, guess that people are realising some features are missing from Apple products including the ability to read free library e-books.

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