To All
In my mind .. I think the 'bullish' longevity of the 'tablet' market is going to diminish in the next year or so and I think we will see the resurgence of the PC, Notebook and ( yes ) netbooks.
Case in point .. my sister bought my son a very nice iPad ( prox 600.00 usd ) in the hopes he could get his college text books in an e-reader format thus saving me a lot of money in NOT having to buy the hard copy format. As it turns out .. most colleges have their own proprietary curriculum and the course work is not available other than at the college bookstore and only available in hard copy or book format... so much for that idea
Second point and observation .. I see broken iPads ( smart phones, iPhones ) and knock off tablets in my repair shop almost daily with broken digitizers ( glass ) where customers tell me they "just ( gently ) dropped it on the floor" and the repairs range between 250.00 USD on up. and most customers say they will just either go buy another one ( cheap imitation ) or "just forget about it"
http://www.ifixyouri.com/150-ipad-3-repairMy point here is that when the consumer public gets over the "shiny new 'toy'" .. they (I hope along with Dell and HP ) will take another look at traditional equipment again and realize that 600.00 usd can buy you a very nice Laptop or Desktop of your choice with all the rich GUI and ability to run all your popular software.
As a post script to my above observation and opinion .. make no mistake, Tablets will continue to be a player ( as prices fall ) and have found a niche in a specialized marketplace... My point is that Tablets are still very fragile and expensive ( more so dollar for dollar than traditional laptops ) and as consumers see how easily they break and the costly amount of repair or replacement ( for what a tablet is actually capable of ) .. I do foresee a resurgence in the desktop and laptop market in the years to come.
Rick Lipkin