Sell me on (or against) Tablets (download, Verizon, laptop, play)
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IT is just overhead until it stops working. Then EVERYTHING stops working and suddenly IT becomes very important.
While everything won't necessarily stop working (depending on the business), it may become incredibly inefficient.
Now getting back to tablets, the iPad (and its ilk) aren't going to replace my desktop or laptop computer anytime soon; however, my Kindle, Sony Reader, and Sony Playstation Portable are "history." Right now, there's no "killer app" that can really justify using a iPad or tablet computer exclusively, so they are pretty much "solutions" in search of a problem. However, it's nice to use while traveling as an "inflight entertainment" device and it might end up killing digEcor and their digEplayers.
While everything won't necessarily stop working (depending on the business), it may become incredibly inefficient.
Now getting back to tablets, the iPad (and its ilk) aren't going to replace my desktop or laptop computer anytime soon; however, my Kindle, Sony Reader, and Sony Playstation Portable are "history." Right now, there's no "killer app" that can really justify using a iPad or tablet computer exclusively, so they are pretty much "solutions" in search of a problem. However, it's nice to use while traveling as an "inflight entertainment" device and it might end up killing digEcor and their digEplayers.
-For e-reading, Kindle and Nook are superior because they use e-ink that you can read anywhere. I had a lot of problems reading anything on the iPad out of doors or in bright-light environments, which is why I took some of the money I made from selling the iPad I won and bought myself an e-reader. E-Ink is also less strain on the eyes.
-The iPad (or any tablet) is not a replacement for a PSP, because the iPad can only run casual type games. The games developed for the PSP are for gamers. The games developed for iPad are for people who are amused by sudoku and tic tac toe.
-DigEplayers are offered free of charge (at least on my chosen airline - Alaska). And all things being equal, I'd rather have my laptop and an Energizer Energi To Go pack on a flight than a tablet that I have to hold up in an uncomfortable position for hours at a time on domestic flights, or just my laptop and inline power from the plane on international.
All this goes back to the central problem with the tablets. They can do a number of things, but they can't do any one thing better than another product and, on balance, the whole of what it can do can't equate other solutions. If the iPad/Android tablet was the best e-reader out there, I'd probably be OK with it. If it was the best portable internet device, or the best music player, or the best movie viewer or just...ANYTHING, it would be OK. But it's not. There's no real niche that it fills. Which was borne out from my present company's failed pilot program. Nobody could really find something it did better than another solution, which is why they're all sitting in a storage room in the back of the datacenter collecting dust until their tax depreciation value is realized and they can be decommissioned. The only, and I mean ONLY time I've found it worthwhile to implement tablets as a solution was at a large metropolitan hospital, because there was one "killer app" that the doctors could use to pull up patient records, charts, X-rays etc. from the device wirelessly, thus increasing efficiency and reducing error potential. And that was not and could not have been an iPad solution due to the proprietary and closed nature of Apple devices, which would have made the app impossible to run on.
Now that more than 15 million iPads have been sold, it seems a little silly to argue that tablets are a toy or don't have any value. They may not be for everybody, but 15 million+ somebodies decided they were worth plunking down a few hundred bucks.
1958 - Hula Hoops
25 millions sold in only four months.
I may get a laptop this summer, but I'm increasingly curious about tablets. It's not a life and death issue by any means, but it does look appealing.
Here's my profile: Male, Grad student, 29. I work, but will not be using the laptop for work, though I may for school.
Casual usage: Surfing, reading blogs, watching streaming netflix (although I try to do that on a computer very little).
If you don't do it much on your computer, why do you think you would do it more on a tablet? Do you really want to hold it in front of you while you watch a movie? And if you are going to use it on a stand, why not just get a laptop? Also consider that the 4:3 aspect ratio on most tables is not really ideal for watching HD video.
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For those of you that are still not on board with tablets, what has prevented you from getting onto them?
Using a large device like that while holding it in my hands, would be awkward at best. Plus it doesn't do anything that I can't already do on either my iPhone or my MacBook. In short a tablet is way down my list of things to buy.
Actually 10.5%. Which makes them #3 behind Dell and HP and ahead of Acer and Toshiba. Looks like a pretty big niche to me.
But that's 3Q 2010...4Q 2010 has Apple dropping back down to #5 with only 8.7% of personal computer market share. But Toshiba, Acer and Apple sell nearly the same number of PCs, so they'll probably be swapping positions every quarter.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant
Someone needs to remind these IT guys that they're part of the overhead and not part of the company that actually generates revenue.
With all due respect, that depends on your definitions. Folks who increase the reliability of your systems, decrease the cost, or enable your other employees to be more productive are actually contributing positively to the bottom line.
One of the changes I made while working for a major airline (implementing reduced-thrust takeoff and landing calculations in the MGL system) was estimated to save the company almost a $1 million per year in fuel costs alone, but it also created less wear and tear on aircraft and engines, etc., which I'm sure produced significant savings in other areas. We put that code online in 1996, and I'm sure its still running.
Last edited by rcsteiner; 03-07-2011 at 02:41 PM..
Actually 10.5%. Which makes them #3 behind Dell and HP and ahead of Acer and Toshiba. Looks like a pretty big niche to me.
Manufacturers aren't important. Platforms are. So PC's have an 88% market share, Apple has 10%, and the various Linux variants have the scraps. That's not a big niche.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xanathos
Manufacturers aren't important. Platforms are. So PC's have an 88% market share, Apple has 10%, and the various Linux variants have the scraps. That's not a big niche.
Hmmm.
Given that:
There are really only three major players in the desktop market today,
The #1 player is a convicted monopolist who has been largely allowed to continue its anti-competitive policies w/o sanction, and
The third player had to be developed largely outside of the marketplace because commercial competition in the x86 desktop market is simply not viable
I think Apple is not doing too badly. 10% is large enough to notice, and it is also as large as I think it has ever been.
It also seems to do very very well in the high-end desktop market:
Last edited by rcsteiner; 03-07-2011 at 03:39 PM..
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