Do tablets still matter?

In 2010, tablets were set to change the world. In 2017, do they even matter anymore? You might actually wonder that, as a CNET headline recently did upon the announcement of new changes to Apple's vaunted iPad line. They also made the announcement in a thief in the night sorta way. There was no big event, no gala, no incredible showy presentation, just a press release. That rolled out a price cut, and a little bit of stream lining of the models they offer. So, what's going on here? iPads were suppose to be 150 million unit per year business by now. Instead, Apple's only sold about, 350 million in seven years. Tablets seem to have suffered from the smartphones getting bigger, and frankly big enough The big phones or phablets have grown 350% in the US market. What do you hand your kid when they're antsy and board? A tablet bigger then their head or just your largish phone? Also, all smartphones have a built-in 4G connection to the Internet where that still remains relatively rare on tablets, and most of us don't relish the idea of adding another device To our wireless plan, cheap tablets have taken over the market, we don't seem to care so much about having a certain brand of tablet or at least having the latest model, for as we are pretty aware and up to date on having more or less the latest smart phone. But don't light off tablets, there are still a billion unique users around the globe that havent used one which is somewhere less half the numbers of those of us Who use a smartphone, and the Microsoft effect is being projected. The Surface line is expected to go from under 9% of the global market in 2015 to almost 20% in 2020. Almost singlehandedly stabilizing the tablet market worldwide. And give tablets credit for stoking our appetites that led to things like Big phones, or phablets, convertibles, laptop tablet hybrids, all thing we might not have even known enough to ask for before 2010. Know what's next at CNET.com/NextBigThing. I'm Bryan Cooley.