AppleInsider Staff
Notebook original design manufacturers who spoke with DigiTimes said although Apple's iPad continues to have strong sales, they believe its negative effect on global notebook sales is declining. They said that's because most tablet-style devices "focus on entertainment rather than working and learning."
The story cites Simon Lin, chairman of Wistron, who said he believes the iPad has created demand for a new market, rather than replacing demand for more traditional notebooks.
Lin believes that a bigger reason for sagging notebook sales is a global recession, which he said has caused consumers to delay notebook purchases. He and others in the Taiwan supply chain are hopeful that demand for notebooks will pick up with the launch of Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge chips, along with Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system.
Sources in the Far East supply chain reportedly indicated that Acer, Asus and Samsung are "optimistic" about notebook sales in the second half of 2012. American-based PC makers Hewlett-Packard and Dell are said to be "neutral."
Sales of the iPad helped Apple become the top PC maker in the world at the end of 2011. In the holiday quarter, Apple sold 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs, giving it 17 percent of all PC shipments worldwide.
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
154 Comments
Ironically, the iPad might sell more laptops in the long run.
Consumers keep their gear longer than enthusiasts (just think about any computer you've been asked to look at because it's "acting funny"). If they still need* a "real" computer, the iPad's convenience and portability will probably push their once-a-decade computer purchase into the laptop column.
*as with all needs, it's a perceived need, not an actual need
PC Makers Grasping At Straws, live in fantasy world.
If we're only talking about consumers and not office workers, I agree. Most consumers only want to check their email, surf the web and update their facebook and twitter. If an iPad is doing all this with great portability, the PC makers may have to get down on their knees and pray.
The story cites Simon Lin, chairman of Wistron, who said he believes the iPad has created demand for a new market, rather than replacing demand for more traditional notebooks.
Curiously, Apple's notebook sales have continued increasing while Windows-based notebook sales have declined. Apple's biggest gains in computer sales have been in Asia, so this certainly isn't a US-centric phenomenon.
On top of that, there have been a plethora of articles showing increased use of Macs in enterprise, again indicating that Apple does not seem to be affected by this recession.
Moreover, a huge number of Fortune 500 companies have deployed or are working on deploying iPads to their workforce. Now, that doesn't really sound much like a "focus on entertainment rather than working and learning", does it?
Admittedly this is something the Windows supply chain manufacturers are going to parrot, since there's no good news right now for them. And quarter after quarter, they can watch Apple bust sales records then glumly shut off Bloomberg/MSNBC/CNN/whatever.
The MS era is over. PCs are not over but anyone with any sense will buy a Mac. MS Windows always has problems, works inconsistently, utilizes unrest upgrades that wreck your system, and throws all kinds of other misfortune to us users. We want something that works and is reliable. We want software that we don't have to troubleshoot. The company meeting this need is Apple. After decades of windows headaches I'm using iPad and headed to a MacBook next. No it's not PCs that are dead, it's MS Windows