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Topic: Tablets

The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

Summary: Microsoft now admits that Apple's iPad is cannibalizing netbook sales.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

Microsoft now admits that Apple's iPad is cannibalizing netbook sales.

Speaking to The Seattle PI, Gavriella Schuster, general manager for Windows product management had this to say:

But the success of the Apple iPad, and the impending Google Android (and Chrome OS?) tablets, are beginning to threaten Windows' hold on the "and" PC market. Real Windows-based iPad competitors aren't expected until sometime next year. So I pointed to Schuster's netbook and asked about the recent trend.

"These are definitely getting cannibalized," she said. "These are really a second device. But they are getting cannibalized."

Schuster calls netbooks, tablets and smartphones "and" devices, which rather than replacing desktop systems, augment them. And it seems that when it comes to deciding between a netbook and a tablet, it's a case of which one to get, rather than getting both.

People only have two hands and a certain amount of cash to spend. Something, somewhere has to give.

Topics: Tablets, Hardware, iPad, Laptops, Mobility

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75 comments
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  • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

    Ir should because the two form factors share a lot of intended usage features.
    asg749d@...
    Reply Vote

  • Well

    Assuming how cheap netbooks are, and their intended use, it is a bit difficult to understand how exactly iPad can significantly disturb their sales.
    Unless of course they are overpowered for a significant amount of customers.
    timiteh
    Reply Vote

    • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

      @timiteh It would be the "dumb" factor. You know those that see all the cool people with iPads not realizing how utterly useless an iPad actually is. So they ditch purchasing something that works for the latest fad.
      blueskip
      Reply Vote

      • I thought the same until I used one

        @blueskip <br><br>I hear this a lot, mostly from people who picked one up at the store for 5 minutes and declare it a toy. I use to think the same until I started to use it and now can completely understand why this thing will kill the low end Windows market. Instant start up, easy to use, stable, very expandable (software/OS), enjoyable, innovative. Windows has been trying to crack the pad market and failing for the last 10 years. Apple tries and hits a home run, there is a reason why. Use one and you may understand.
        Kabcock
        Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @Kabcock : When you sell 40+ million netbooks a year "trying to crack the pad market and failing" is a definitely incorrect statement. Yes 40+ million this year [see trying to crack the pad market and failing ]. So lket's see, aside from the simple games from the app store, what *REAL* games can you play on it? Will Office 2011 for the Mac work on an iPad? Office 2010 works nicely on my netbook.
        Gis Bun
        Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @blueskip Exactly. I always thought this way about it, and after using one I realized that I was not wrong. Typing on the device is nothing nothing better than terrible. Movies and other videos looked pretty good (except that there is no YouTube HD, atleast when I used it so YouTube is grainy. Comics and stuff are pretty awesome overall, but it would be the same on any tablet. Games on the otherhand are iffy at best. Some games looked clean, but any sports I'd racing or really anything with real live action looks pretty terrible, its like a throwback into the mid to late 90s. And while this isn't the iPads fault persay, it is the fault of the hardware not being able to render better graphics for that resolution. Honestly the experience isn't worth near $500. And I suspect many others feel the same. A netbook ok the other hands is a machine that can actually get stuff done. And while it might not be as cool or comfortable for reading comics, magazines, and books, they run real OS's and real full programs. Honestly I would pay about $300 tops for a tablet. As it would be a 3rd device to me and I would only really use it for media consumption.
        Jimster480
        Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @blueskip The reason Microsoft failed at the tablet market is the same reason Microsoft failed at the "tiny PC" market... their solutions were always super expensive full PCs shunk down. So you paid more... much more, for a lower perfomance PC with an alternate form factor. <br><br>I had one of those, some years back. I needed a small laptop with very long battery life (commuting fairly regularly between New Jersey and Germany). I got myself a Fujitsu P2000... kind of the grandaddy of the Netbook. These ran close to $2,000 back then... you could get a regular notebook for much, much less. <br><br>Same with tablets... these came out as very expensive notebooks, smaller and lower power. And without a useful touch interface... you still needed a stylus. <br><br>It wasn't Microsoft who enabled the Netbook. It was almost Palm.. the Palm Folio was damn near what we think of as a Netbook, though it was stillborn. And then it was Asustek who actually brought the modern Netbook to life. <br><br>See, there was this project at MIT, called OLPC -- One Laptop Per Child. It set the noble goal of delivering $100 laptops to kids in the third world. The company brought in to manufacture these was Quanta... also a Taiwanese company, and the arch rival of Asustek. So Asustek, fearing Quanta would apply what they learned to the mass market laptop, set out to deliver an ultra-cheap laptop... what we know today as the Netbook. <br><br>Really... Microsoft has a horrible track record of moving hardware innovations. Usually it's Intel... they're done pretty well. And in fact, Microsoft fought against the idea of the Netbook, until they realized that if they didn't support it, they would all run Linux (which is what the OLPC ran).
        Hazydave
        Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @Gis Bun What in the world are you talking about. Selling millions of netbooks has absolutely nothing to do with their success or lack there of in the pad (tablet) market, two different devices. Windows and their partners have been in the tablet market for 8-10 years not and I don't have hard figures but would hazard a guess that in the time they have not sold as many as the iPad has in what 6-7 months.
        non-biased
        Reply Vote

    • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

      @timiteh

      There's an indirect way to see the future of the iPad. Any new tech seems to turn up in TV shows almost immediately CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds etc, etc. However, while all the TV shows are adopting tablets, the iPad is not to be seen. Apparently even TV writers recognise a toy when they see it. I presume we'll see some Kinect use in teh next few months ;-)

      Do what I did, get one for a week. Believe me, you won't want to keep it.
      tonymcs@...
      Reply Vote

      • 95% of the people disagree with you

        @tonymcs@...You're entitled to your own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts. The fact is that the iPad has a 95% customers satisfaction rating. People who try the iPad like it, your opinion notwithstanding. http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/11/02/ipad-satisfaction-hits-95-in-october-changewave-survey-up-4-pts-from-may/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fortuneapple20+%28FORTUNE%3A+Apple+2.0%29
        Falkirk
        Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @tonymcs@... actually I saw a iPad in a few shows now. Most of the time they are using tablets, they are just showing pictures. But when they use interactive tablets, I notice that they sent iPads.
        Jimster480
        Reply Vote

    • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

      @timiteh It's a combination of things. Netbooks start pretty cheap, but there are more expensive models as well. And there's a buzz about the iPad.<br><br>There's some sense of this. Sure, the full iPad is expensive, and even the entry level one is a stones throw away from the cost of discount full Windows laptops (average US laptop cost about $550 in 2009, entery level iPad is $499). But for apps, Netbooks are often useless running many or significant Windows apps. The iPad, on the other hand, is THE high-end iOS device. And many of the key apps... web browsing, media playing, work as well on either platform.<br><br>And there's something to be said for Apple's reputation. Techies more often know the truth, so this may not be so obvious to readers here, but there's a certain cachet surrounding the Apple name. They've made it a high-end brand, which is why you spend 2x-3x as much for an Apple PC as for any old generic PC.... even given that the "guts" today are the same. So there are a class of people who couldn't justify the price of a Mac PC, or the monthlies for an iPhone, but think they're getting a "deal" on an iPad. It's like getting an underpowered Mercedes for "only" $35,000.... even if it's comparable to a $15,000 Toyota.
      Hazydave
      Reply Vote

  • If they are

    I still have yet to see it at an academic level. Nothing but notebooks and netbooks as far as the eye can see.
    The one and only, Cylon Centurion
    Reply Vote

    • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

      @Cylon Centurion 0005

      I've seen people in classes with one, but never productively. They always seem to be bought by these ego monsters so people will react to it...
      jmotion
      Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @jmotion That's exactly right. The iPad has so much wasted potential. It's utterly useless for all the stuff it would be spectacular at if it had a better design. No ports on it is the biggest of all. What brainiac thought that was smart??? It would also ideally have the ability to expand the memory on a removeable card.
        blueskip
        Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @jmotion shutup blueskip, that is not the point being made. The iPad is a media consumption form factor. It browses nicely, views videos nicely, and preforms the consumption of media nicely. It makes for a lousy input device.

        But don't pass off the bluetooth option. The iPad simply needs a bluetooth keyboard and input is a cinch.
        prof.ebral
        Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @jmotion I've seen people in classes with them, getting mad at them and putting them away after 5-10 minutes.
        Jimster480
        Reply Vote

      • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

        @Jimster480 People are about as likely to believe any claim you have regarding an Apple product as they are to believe an Apple fanatic claim every person in the world has an iPad, neither are based on facts and it's obvious.
        non-biased
        Reply Vote

  • It's not cannibalizing, it's eating

    It's eating Microsoft's lunch.

    It is the new dawn in computing - we're moving away from x86 and onto ARM. We're moving away from the mouse, and onto multitouch. This is the future.
    Vbitrate
    Reply Vote

    • RE: The iPad IS cannibalizing netbook sales

      @gyepera Not likely...If this is the future we're doomed without a doubt.
      blueskip
      Reply Vote
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