Study: Nearly a Quarter of U.S. Adults Own a Tablet

[cknobman]

I find it funny all the high and mighty PC users posting that a tablet does not suit their needs so it serves no purpose.

It may not serve your purpose but tablets definitely serve a purpose and a very useful one at that.

I am really glad to be a software developer as I am constantly forced to keep up with technology, education, and usage scenarios. This keeps me from being so closed minded like some of the people posting on here.

 

[InvalidError]

[citation][nom]teh_chem[/nom]I don't see what rooting Android gets you in terms of capability, and in terms of you doing things on your desktop that you can't do with your Nexus 7, how about typing on the scale of 50-80 words per minute.[/citation]
Rooting an Android device does enable mounting file network and USB file systems that are not supported out-of-the-box due to licensing issues.

As for extensive typing, you can use an USB or Bluetooth keyboard instead of on-screen keyboard. But most "normal" tablet uses require little to no typing. IMO, if you feel like you require a keyboard on a tablet, you are likely attempting to use a tablet for the wrong reasons.

 

[jivdis1x]

"Apple loses considerable percentage of market due to emergence of cheaper tablets."

How can they loses something they never had. People that buys these cheaper tablet was never in the market to buy an apple high price tablet.

 

[Gundam288]

I beleave this.

Personaly I'm not a fan of tablets, but I'm not a hater ether. I just don't see them being worth the money for what I want to do in my spare/free time. I rather be gaming on my gaming PC, but if someone gave me a tablet for free I would more than likely use it to some extent.

But, tablets in general really strike me as more for older people.

 

[igot1forya]

I use my Xoom every day, for all kinds of tasks. VPN, RDP/VNC with SSH/Telnet tasks for remote support works like a charm. Rarely do I use my laptop for those tasks any more. Its rooted with JB installed and it works GREAT (way better than Honeycomb and ICS ever did)! My wife's iFad3 is pretty much delegated to picture viewing and other pointless tasks - I think she uses it when she works out to watch YouTube and stuff. The Kindle Fire (classic) we have (also rooted) is pretty much our alarm and clock radio in the morning, and is used to read in bed as its small screen doesn't disturb the other person so much. I've found tablets to be a normal function of my daily life.

 

[belardo]

Gundam288: Thinking its just for older people is rather silly... That is like saying Mobile Suit Gundams are only for teenage boys to pilot. Funny, my 8yr old uses my iPad more than i do (play games, read some books and watch videos).

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]So iPad went from 81% to 52% in a year? Ask us again in another year when all the Windows 8 tablets have had a chance to penetrate the market, it would be justice for a straight 30% split all round between Windows, Apple and Android with the remaining 10% "others"[/citation] Keep in mind, that Apples share of the market are tablets sold at a profit, the 10" $400~600 models. Something that Android and MS will also be selling. Most of those android sales are Kindles - which are not true Androids, but modified for Amazon. They are sold at no profit... like a console.

Meanwhile, tablets sold by everyone else (but MS) can only be sold for a profit since they don't make anything off the ecosystem (Music, cloud, videos, Apps). Why do you think MS is drooling to open their own App store? Apple will continue to do well for a good while... I they would do better if they were not pissing of people with their lawsuits. If their mini-iPad is $200~250 with right balance of pricefeatures, they'll sell as good as the Kindles.

I am personally hoping that Win8 tablets stay weak, never hitting above 5%. Hey - almost 3 years of WP7 phones and they never cracked 1%! Lets see, the Galaxy 3 is still a $200 phone, while the Lumia900 went from $100 to $50 in 6 weeks.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]Zingam[/nom]Once I have passed 33 I have realize that so much of that cool stuff in life is totally useless. You work your butt off to just buy another expensive TV or car. I've spent most of my younger years in front of a monitor... What did I achieve. I got fat. I got lazy. I got slow.Then I have discovered that nothing makes me more happy than being outside doing some physical activity: running, hiking, climbing... Seriously... people need training shoes not smartphones.The best use for a tablet I see is to read books on it and save paper but not for the price of iPad. I used to love computer games, gadgets and crap... Now it is so much more amazing to look and feel much better than many 20 years old. I've never been much of an athlete but seriously: 90% of the much younger people doing fitness I see are in worse shape than me.[/citation]

a big point of being in shape comes from a few things.
most people its their diet
and for the few its gifted genetics.

many people who justwork out or do stuff sometimes dont want to eat healthy, so they naturally dont look fit, looking fit and being fit arent nesssassarly the same, but it is a decent judge

and gifted genetics, some people will never get fit, they may be able to be slim, but an in shape body is something they will never see, while others can litteraly do nothing but eat crap, and sit around all day, but their body decides to add some mussel here, make sure there doesnt get fat and for god sake make him look sculpted.

[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]Morons come in all ages and sizes. Some getter better if they survive the weeding out process. I think you are correct in your observations of 20 vs 30. After 30+, I started working out - lose the fat (as Zingam pointed out) and I am more social in the real world than with computers... I do like my games But I also compete for girls in their 20s against "boys". I am stronger, better shape, can dance, have a bit more money (unless dad paid their way) and tend to not do stupid things. I grew up in the days of Apple II... before we had these MICE. Through experience and where things are going, the tablet will replace the the desktop/notebook as the main computer a person has.Remember, most people are MORONS. Look at Windows8, see where its going? Windows desktop as you know it will eventually be gone. The smarter computer users will be going to Linux... whatever is left of the desktop will be for pros (CAD / programmers) who do important things or make junk for tablet users.Bingo on the military. But even at age 35, they asked me to join because of my physical condition and what-not. I laughed. You gotta be able to follow orders, not question them!Micky Mouse has never won an election. His name has been used as a joke.I do foresee some sort of hybrid Phone/tablet computer home... maybe a server for content. When you can throw your tablet (your main computer) onto your 60" wall display, use hand and face movements to control interaction smoothly... why use a dingy 80~90s era box? The Xbox and Wii are already showing the way.The keyboard is a non-issue. Add-it for $20~50. Look at the $1200 Slates from Samsung and HP that run i5-class CPUs? And with Haswell, the performance gets a small bump but the power usage drops to 20X!! The tablets in 2014 are going to be crazy... They can be faster than todays $700~900 tablets with tons of storage (SSD and cloud), wireless video output to monitor, etc... why the hell would you need a desktop for?This is why MS is scared shitless. Windows8 sucks, but its required for their transition for the future. But they did it wrong. The desktop is a horrible mess, completely stupid. Also, it shows the world we don't need Microsoft anymore. Windows8-RT tablets are not "windows" anymore than WP7/8 or even Android or "Windows". They don't run Win-x86 programs. As far as I'm concerned, this is the time to cut the ties from Microsoft. Too bad Apple is being complete pricks.In 20 years, I don't know what we'll be using for "computers", it won't be a tablet. Perhaps the PC will be in our bodies (the size of a quarter) and we'll access data the same way we do with tablets today... Point to a monitor and you access your data.[/citation]

i honestly think tablets will be somewhat a fad.
not in the sense of something like pogs that completely died and went away, again, but in the sense that everyone (people with money to burn) wants one right now.
i see tablets hitting a saturation point.
take a look at the wiiu
i honestly thing a combination of that and a normal tablet will be the future of them.

at home, you have a hub that is fairly powerful and can do most crap you want it to.
on the go toy use a less powerfull but capable cpu

 

[devBunny]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]dont call an 18 year old an adult in the case of tech like this, as a fair amount of schools have tablet only books where you need one for the classes, and 18-about 25 are idiots to begin with. show me the adults over 30 that bought into tablets.[/citation]

That's very curmudgeonly, alidan, but I +1'ed it 'cos it made me chuckle. ;o)

 

[belardo]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]while others can litteraly do nothing but eat crap, and sit around all day, but their body decides to add some mussel here, make sure there doesnt get fat~[/citation] I have a friend who eats garbage and is under-weight. For most people - even the Van Diesels of the world gain weight with age. Having a family takes away time from doing work-outs, and eating with the kiddies... ask me how I know. Hopefully he'll be good in sports and we can do runs together, crap like that.

PS: I have the Is Van Diesel body and shaved head, just not the muscle

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom] i honestly think tablets will be somewhat a fad.not in the sense of something like pogs that completely died and went away, again, but in the sense that everyone wants one right now.i see tablets hitting a saturation point. take a look at the wiiui honestly thing a combination of that and a normal tablet will be the future of them.at home, you have a hub that is fairly powerful and can do most crap you want it to. on the go toy use a less powerfull but capable cpu[/citation] You said its a fad then you say it could be something like the Wii-U.

As I've stated, the tablet is more of a home device... that WIFI model sells the most. And tethering to the phone is possible. So the future you are talk about... is already here. The Cellphone is the most portable since it fits in pockets and purses. One of the items coming to the market is a Phone that docks into a tablet. You know google works? With Gmail, Google Docs... the cloud.

when I first started online stuff, it was a modem and we did some stuff online. With internet, our email clients were on our own computers. But many years ago, I went to hotmail and such because it allowed me to access my EMAIL anywhere. These are possible because of bandwidth as we can now run "Office" apps in a browser now. As long as you can access your data from your own server or a public cloud - the tablet doesn't need to be super powerful and the desktop is simply not needed.

The Desktop PC (or notebook) is going downhill. Notebook sales are shrinking. The tablets are not like the netbooks which had a one year FAD. The tablets are about to enter their 4th yer and the sales are still going up. The Ultrabook is not needed, its just a thin expensive notebook. Take a tablet, add a keyboard = Ultrabook.

I'm a gamer... the only thing I need for my motherboard is 2 slots... barely that. All we need is the display and keyboard, the box doesn't matter - it needs to go away for most people. It can be a tiny box, a tablet with a GPU-DOC, etc... who knows. The only plus I see for the PC today is that the ATX PSU is standard... we need a new standardize smaller PSU that the PC makers will use... because replacements for SFF/Slimlines are shit.


PS: next time, edit down the quotes...

 

[belardo]

[citation][nom]alidan[/nom]i honestly think tablets will be somewhat a fad.not in the sense of something like pogs that completely died and went away, again[/citation] I forgot to say this before.

But you remind me of a discussion with my little sister back in 2002: Her position was "Digital cameras will NEVER replace film cameras" when I had my Canon 2MP camera, which of course I did not agree and that FILM was a dying format. This was obvious by 2005... I think she lost the argument.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]devBunny[/nom]That's very curmudgeonly, alidan, but I +1'ed it 'cos it made me chuckle. ;o)[/citation]

but am i wrong with many of them being idiots who think they know how the world works, that all their plans and dreams will come true, that some how life wont run them over and into the ground?

many schools require an ipad, and many a mac book for classes.
and many of them are morons who get it because they want it, but don't think of the cost. being financialy smart usually comes with age, not something many 18-25 year olds have.

[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]I have a friend who eats garbage and is under-weight. For most people - even the Van Diesels of the world gain weight with age. Having a family takes away time from doing work-outs, and eating with the kiddies... ask me how I know. Hopefully he'll be good in sports and we can do runs together, crap like that.PS: I have the Is Van Diesel body and shaved head, just not the muscle You said its a fad then you say it could be something like the Wii-U.As I've stated, the tablet is more of a home device... that WIFI model sells the most. And tethering to the phone is possible. So the future you are talk about... is already here. The Cellphone is the most portable since it fits in pockets and purses. One of the items coming to the market is a Phone that docks into a tablet. You know google works? With Gmail, Google Docs... the cloud.when I first started online stuff, it was a modem and we did some stuff online. With internet, our email clients were on our own computers. But many years ago, I went to hotmail and such because it allowed me to access my EMAIL anywhere. These are possible because of bandwidth as we can now run "Office" apps in a browser now. As long as you can access your data from your own server or a public cloud - the tablet doesn't need to be super powerful and the desktop is simply not needed.The Desktop PC (or notebook) is going downhill. Notebook sales are shrinking. The tablets are not like the netbooks which had a one year FAD. The tablets are about to enter their 4th yer and the sales are still going up. The Ultrabook is not needed, its just a thin expensive notebook. Take a tablet, add a keyboard = Ultrabook.I'm a gamer... the only thing I need for my motherboard is 2 slots... barely that. All we need is the display and keyboard, the box doesn't matter - it needs to go away for most people. It can be a tiny box, a tablet with a GPU-DOC, etc... who knows. The only plus I see for the PC today is that the ATX PSU is standard... we need a new standardize smaller PSU that the PC makers will use... because replacements for SFF/Slimlines are shit.PS: next time, edit down the quotes...[/citation]

its a fad in the way everyone wants one, and people are doom and gloom on pc's. the fact is, you will never get a tablet that is powerful enough for people to do things on them they would normally use a pc for.

as an access point for content, i could consider it something like a mouse, keyboard, and screen all in one.

get a windows 8 interface, and there, you have the keyboard and mouse in front of you, on the tablet you have a metro interface, useing the same box. get to far out of range, and it defaults back to an on board os.

for pci ports... i could use a few... mostly as a future proof the pc a bit, get new things like usb 3 that aren't on my motherboard right now, and a better sound card, as i care about audio want to get a setup where a sound card would actually make a difference.

[citation][nom]belardo[/nom]I forgot to say this before.But you remind me of a discussion with my little sister back in 2002: Her position was "Digital cameras will NEVER replace film cameras" when I had my Canon 2MP camera, which of course I did not agree and that FILM was a dying format. This was obvious by 2005... I think she lost the argument.[/citation]

digital cameras are right now, just easier than film,
on a consumer level, digital cameras easily replace consumer film.
on a more professional level, you are looking at 10k+ to replace the quality of film, its worth it, but its still a note. and depending on how much detail you want, film is the only option still currently, but those are extreme outliers, digital will replace film at some point, but it sure as hell isnt soon, or probably even in the next 5-10 years.

and when i mean replace, i don't mean replace it as what people buy, but completely stamp out all use and need of film.