n/t
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What many forgot is that sales will eventually slide downwards as folk that wanted one have one and instead of folk that didn't have buying your numbers tail off as folk have kids that want one or they break it and replace it.
Any product will have a big initial sales then tail off. Why is this news?
Bob
I don't do justice to market cycles. Now that the the tablets have been around a while those that will buy have bought them and with bigger phones (even I have the 6 inch phone) the market is now mature. I expect sales to fall off to levels as folk replace aged or broke models and less new sales.
Bob
It seems to want filling in a niche between a smart phone and a laptop and it will likely follow the "netbook" down to similar levels when the fad has faded enough.
I've been writing mobile apps since the early 90s so for me that's one long fad. The idea of a pocket sized device with custom apps has been good to me over the years. Today it's better than every with a wide array of devices to target.
Bob
The "false" prophet of technology. I hope nobody made stock investments based on his advice.
http://netbooks-vs-tablets.articles.r-tt.com/
The passing of a "fad".
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/01/what_happened_to_netbooks_apple_s_ipad_and_macbook_air_killed_the_400_former.html
still leaves the question of tablets continuance or demise unanswered yet.
The "new" prophets of technology.
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/07/31/tablets-are-a-fad.aspx
http://www.fudzilla.com/news/36907-tablet-fad-continues-to-die
It's still hard to say what may or not kill it off, but I'd suspect two desires among consumers. Those who want to play action games on something and who don't want to spring the bucks for two computing devices, and those who want something easily mobile, which a tablet isn't quite as easy as a smart phone. Since more websites have developed "mobile friendly webpages" the need/desire for a wider screen like the tablet while mobile had drastically declined.
Remember those Mattel games in the 70's (still have the mattel football game!) which were all the rage at the time, everyone under age 20 and a number above that, wanted one. You can still find used ones online for sale now over 40 years later, so popular they were. You can still get some "retro" issues of them, but I suspect many of those are bought by parents who played them and want their child to have one, expecting them to enjoy it as much. Tried to get one of my children to take the old one, but after a day of playing with it, they gave it back and never bothered with it again. Everything has it's time and place I guess.
Remember I've been in and around mobile for too long. Before the Palm Pilot where we really got going with our apps.
Mind you that our world was not consumers which may explain the longevity.
Bob
Solomon in bible said "there is nothing new under the sun" and probably close to correct for his day and time. A lot of things change, but often they just are an improved copy of the past. Before all the electronics, think back to our childhood years. In school we used composition books, or tablets of paper, or those spiral bound notebooks 8x11 size paper. We didn't carry it around though more than it took to go back and forth between school, home and lockers. Still, we sometimes wanted to jot a quick note or something to remember, and for that we chose the most mobile information or data storage device of the day. It was a pocket sized notepad and a clip on pen, sometimes in a pocket protector. Why? Because the pocket sized notepad was more mobile, even though we put less on each page, but it served a purpose the larger notebook didn't. However, doing school work on a standard size notebook was much preferable to handing in scribbled notes on small sheets of notepad paper and calling it your "homework". (Yeah, I did that once, LOL. Had to stay after school and re-do it).
Considering history, utility, I suggest the real place for "tablets" are in the modern school. No cover, so teacher can walk by and see what each child is doing as regards any "writing" (typing) assignment. Homework uploaded to teachers' classroom folder. New work to finish, test to take, all such downloaded to the student's tablets. I really think that's where they will find their niche in the future, if they wish to survive past the fad stage.
Remember those old black and white camo looking notebooks we had to have for school, only later the wire spiral ones allowed? Remember the "Red Chief" tablets with the cheap paper in them for the early grades with the dotted lines to learn how to put your letters correctly? The old stylus fountain pens, gosh what a mess they could make. I think they still make those, but in school you weren't allowed to use the new "ball point pens" till they finally relented and even then it had to be "fine point" only. Having some memory moments here, lol.
And least they are in a good chunk of the districts in the United States. Last I read probably 20% of districts are using tablets and another 25% chromebooks (maybe more by now).
The school districts that were foolish enough to obtain the expensive hardware before formulating a good complimentary plan on how to incorporate them into their daily routines are the ones which have ditched the tablets (some of them switching to chromebooks since the data is cloud based and easier to manage).