7 ms·

What happened to tablet sales?

33 points by tadblarney 10y ago

frik 10y ago
"The iPad 2 is still in use today," IDC Senior Analyst Jitesh Ubrani tells TechCrunch. “The [original] iPad Minis and Air are all still in use today. They were being supported by Apple until very recently. People have been hanging onto these devices and they’re finding that they work just as well as they did when they were released" It's simply true. I have a iPad 2 and iPad Air 2, and both run fine. The former still on iOS6, so it is fast. Most people who upgraded iPad 2/3 to iOS7+ regretted doing so, and replaced their device. It's Apple's fault, if they want more sales they shouldn't fragment and confuse the customer with the whole iPad Air 2 not updating for years, than two iPad Pro models with higher price, and now the 9.7 model. People want faster hardware and new features with every model, otherwise there is no reason to switch and replace an otherwise good working device. It's the same for smartphones, tabets, notebooks and PCs. Only that tablets are in-between phones and notebooks, and many people around the world just got their first access to internet and only own a smartphone. So no tablet and notebook sales from those. If a brand stagnates, people start looking elsewhere for new more exciting devices. For example in China tier 1+2 cities the last 6 months there is a new trend, iPhone 7 was a big let down in their opinion, and so you see more and more high end Android phones - it happends very fast. To manufacturers of phones/tablets/notebooks/desktop: produce new better models with new exiting features. Why is my 2010 notebook has the same spec as 2017 models, despite new ones that meet even the spec cost almost twice as much? Why is dual core in 2017 models still almost the only option? Where are the augmented reality camera features in smartphones and tablets?
- akoster 10y ago
  Great comment. What you are saying is spot on. I had a 2009 17" Toshiba satellite dual-core I upgraded ~1.5 years ago to another Toshiba Satelite 17" with a quad-core haswell chip. Now my mom is looking to upgrade her aging 2010 Gateway 17" dual-core machine but for Intel's latest lineup, most i7 laptop CPUs are only dual-core and only a slight clock speed bump above the i5 models. I guess they felt quad-core mobile CPUs consume too much power for laptops but still, since they were able to do it a couple years ago, why have we taken a step backward? She also is a happy owner of a non-retina iPad mini which is still chugging along.
  - jon-wood 10y ago
    I think the move to fewer cores and lower clock speeds was to improve battery life. You can still buy laptops with quad core CPUs (even Xeons if you look round), but battery life is nowhere near as good as the new dual core i7s
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago
  I cannot agree with the quoted statement. Early Apple tablets do not work as well as when they were released. I bought an iPad 3. After each major iOS release it became slower. Now it runs iOS 9 and it is unbearably slow. I only ever use it to watch YouTube, and even this is an exercise in patience. Because of the performance drop, I had bought an iPad mini 4. After half a year I sold it because I simply didn’t use it often. I cannot imagine spending $400 on a new iPad. I will keep using my iPad 3 until it breaks. And I will not buy a new iPad again. The OS and form factor is too limited to do any serious work on it. (I’m not going to buy a keyboard and stand for a tablet just to have a subpar laptop experience.)
  - hackits 10y ago
    Just as a side note, we've never needed to upgrade the ipad air 2 nor any prior tablet from apple. We're of horror stories of devices slowing down or degrading with each iteration of ios so we've been lucky in not keeping them up to date. On the other hand its actually been a negative impact in regards to wanting to buy a iphone. Knowing that if apple ever force a update or accidently swipe a notification away we could be looking at slower devices is a incentive not to buy their iphone products.
    - hkmurakami 10y ago
      I'm in the same boat not upgrading OS version, but it does limit your app choices significantly.
      - bostand 10y ago
        With the CIA ios exploits out in the wild now, how can you really be comfortable using such an insecure version?
        hackits 10y ago
        If you're that worried you should just simply stop using the internet. People downloading the facebook or messenger app kind gives a clear message they don't care about their privacy or their data.
- canuckintime 10y ago
  You are conflating several issues that have little to do with the topic of what happened to tablet sales e.g. Apple's iPhone sales drop is China is only tangentially related to tablet sales drop worldwide (fwiw I agree your diagnosis about lack of fashionable iPhone upgrades, particularly a new design. the other significant factor is spiking iPhone prices in international market due to exchange rate). Tablet sales and upgrade patterns can't be directly compared to smartphones. Consumers upgrade their smartphones often because in key markets those purchases are subsidized (the single biggest factor in the iPhone's success was switching from a full price sale system of the original model to the subsidized system for the iPhone 3G). Tablets are more comparable to laptops/desktops. However iPad has even dropped below the Mac. Why is that? So back to the techcrunch article: > part of the slow down in sales can be chalked up to user disappointment in the devices’ limitation following the initial excitement around the space... growing size of smartphone displays has gone a ways toward cannibalizing tablet sales, as well, limiting the need for a much larger device when so many handsets are now within the six-inch range. On the high end of the spectrum, convertible touchscreen Windows 10 devices have eaten into tablet market share, while Chromebook sales have begun to dominate the education market that tablet makers once saw as a key use case... Amazon marks a rare bright spot on that end of the spectrum, due to its relatively unique ability to subsidize costs as it positions Fire tablets as, essentially, content delivery devices... When the iPad launched in '10 the iPhone was 3.5" and the laptops were big and bulky. In the following years that space for tablet growth was squeezed by large Android phablets and Macbook Airs (the 11" launched in a few months after the original iPad). Still the iPad, was proclaimed as the future of computing by Apple. It should have reached upwards to dethrone laptops/netbooks. The tablet problems are simple: 1) multitasking/multiwindow is basic on tablets and the UX is just not good enough, especially considering the disadvantages when compared to laptops/desktops with bigger screens 2) data/file management and sharing for projects spanning multiple persons and tools. iOS in particular is woefully lacking in this regard 3) poor input system. This is arguably the most critical factor. As long as a hardware QWERTY keyboard remains the most efficient way to provide text input then the laptop form factor, and OSes designed for that form factor, will remain dominant for productivity. An iPad with a hardware keyboard but without a mouse/trackpad is a sick UX joke resulting in arm fatigue. More than anything else, TABLETS NEED A REVOLUTIONARY SOFTWARE KEYBOARD or INPUT SYSTEM. That should be Apple's or a YC startup's first priority. (NB: tablets offer voice input, some actually decent, but that's obviously a nonstarter as general input in a noisy classroom, library, coffee shop, open office plan unless perhaps Apple can make a stenomask[1] fashionable. A revolutionary touch software keyboard still seems the best bet imo) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenomask https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenomask
dcw303 10y ago
There's some kind of obscure irony that the longevity of tablet hardware and software is having a negative effect on sales. Like netbooks, that could ultimately mean manufacturers lose interest in the form factor in favour of something with higher revenues. The tablet would have doomed itself by being too user friendly.
jimjimjim 10y ago
For me the ideal tablet size is the 7 inch tablet. Easier to browse with than a phone (possible to use mobile sites and desktop sites), easier to read (it's paperback size), easier to hold than a ipad/10inch tablet. can ANYONE recommend anything at least as good as a nexus7?
- sundvor 10y ago
  Personally I greatly enjoy the Tab S2 with Book Cover. It has an AMOLED screen which is superb for night time reading, and feels small enough to put almost anywhere. Samsung just released the next version of it, but I'm not sure how sold I am on the all glass design.
  - bostand 10y ago
    Wait, there is a 7" version of tab S2?
    - sundvor 10y ago
      It is 8"; close enough to the Nexus 7 (I had the OG one).
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- ianai 10y ago
  I love my ipad mini 2 for the same reason. If my iphone's too small for it then the mini is the next step. I can take both just about anywhere easily. I don't know how portable the 9.7" would feel - but I'm sure the 12.9" would live firmly at home or a backpack.
- danieldk 10y ago
  I find reading on a tablet quite terrible. Your eyes get tired and use late at night delays melatonin production. I like the Kindle Paperwhite a lot more for reading non-technical books and magazines.
DigitalSea 10y ago
The problem with tablets is they're incredibly limited. The hardware seems to improve with every generation, but specifically in the instance of iOS: the software seems to be stagnate. What's the point in having super fast storage, quad core processors and fast memory if the software is so limiting and horrible it doesn't let you take advantage of it? As a developer, I find iOS to be a horrible operating system and very limited. If you want to surf the web or play games then the iPad is great for that. The same thing applies for Android tablets, however I find Android tablets to be slightly more developer friendly because you can hack them and access powerful applications. Bottom line is tablets can never replace computers or laptops.
- danieldk 10y ago
  The same thing applies for Android tablets, however I find Android tablets to be slightly more developer friendly But Android tablets are also awful. Although I am primarily an Apple user and my wife uses an iPad, we bought an higher-end ASUS tablet based on Atom for me and our daughter (to watch cartoons on long car trips). The tablet came bloated with all kinds of nonsense apps, of which more than half cannot be removed or disabled. Android updates stopped after a year or so. It had an SD card slot, but it could only be used for a small subset of applications. The Nexus 7 2013 that we owned was better in the lack of crapware department. But the last Android update was in 2015 (6.0.1). After some iPads and the Nexus 7/ASUS adventures, I decided to stop using tablets completely. Laptops have become so light and compact that it's easy to take them to meetings (especially the MacBook 12" is great in this regard). As a bonus, I can just store my notes, etc. in plain text (org mode) in git, rather than being locked in some cloud silo.
  - bostand 10y ago
    Nexus 7 was updated in 2016. Asus is king of crapware, never buy Asus.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    As a bonus, I can just store my notes, etc. in plain text (org mode) in git, rather than being locked in some cloud silo. Not a bonus: on Android, you can use MobileOrg+SyncOrg (which syncs to any git remote). Or you can use Emacs on the terminal and sync using a generic generic git client like SGit.
ianai 10y ago
"In the past month, both Apple and Samsung have refreshed their flagship tablets for the first time since 2014" The first sentence doesn't say it all? These things aren't cheap (for most of us) and people want the latest and greatest. Updates have been coming in the 6 month to 12 months window for phones/tech. I know I wait for releases to purchase hardware. It's the only way to ensure the longest support window, for one.
toodlebunions 10y ago
My iPad collects dust. I use the iPhone Plus constantly though, which is nearly a tablet.
oomkiller 10y ago
My parents recently bought a new Windows laptop because their modern iPad can't do all of the things they want. If tablet software can't compete with PC, then their sales are bound to go to zero as PCs like the Surface become more prevalent. Personally, I don't own one as my phablet does everything that I would want a tablet to do, and my PC and Kindle do the rest.
OneTimePat 10y ago
Tablet sales are lagging in America because manufacturers are not innovating. One of the top rated Android tablets today is the Nvidia Shield K1. It's a great tablet. It costs $200. You can use it to stream a very playable PC gaming experience via GeForce Now provided you have a solid 20 mbps connection. You can connect it to your television and use it as a console. It's 3 years old and still pretty rock-and-roll weighed for it's entertainment value. Its display is easily cast to a television or monitor for anyone that needs to use it for a workspace via Google apps. And there isn't even anything on the American market that offers serious competition. Sure, there's the Google Pixel C. It's got a top notch Tegra X1, but it hobbled itself by not including an SD card slot. Google Drive is nice, but I don't want to be beholden to Google for my files. And the Switch looks gimmicky (and sub-par). So this far there's really no reason to move beyond the Nvidia Shield. At least not on the American Market. Then Asian market is doing much better. They're cranking out some quality spec Core M tablets for $200 to $300. If American tablet sellers would get in on the trend, we might see a decent uptick in sales.
- bostand 10y ago
  The nvidia tablet is still king of the tablet hill, despite its age. When the new one is released, I'm buying two.
  - thrownblown 10y ago
    I had the first 1, and managed to turn that into 4 through two recalls (all basically cosmetic flaws) that have all at this point died. one was killswitched, recovered and killswitched again and bricked. one is stuck in a bootloop after a cm10->cm11 auto upgrade. the other two's batteries failed and i soldered usb cables in their place and they have a second life in the back of my electric junk drawer. I thought about buying a k1 tablet, but i really couldn't justify it as i have a one plus 3 that does almost everything a tablet did. and i can make calls on it and not feel like a goober. i don't think there's another tablet in the pipe: http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/11/rumored-follow-nvidia-shield-tablet-k1-cancelled/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/11/rumored-follow-nvidi... I have the first shield tv and its awesome. I use the g-force now service to stream witcher 3. I love streaming games. I used on-live back in the day, and was bummed when it failed. I lost like 10 games. I did here that nvidia had a lot to do with the nintendo switch, but i don't care enough to vet that rumor, so i will jsut spread it anyway.
cft 10y ago
I use an ultrabook and a 6" phone. No need for a tablet. They are redundant.
- icebraining 10y ago
  I went the other way: 7" tablet + small $20 featurephone. I think the whole combo is cheaper than a single 6" smartphone, and you can't beat the battery life.
myrandomcomment 10y ago
I have been using my original iPad Mini since it shipped. I have not found a reason to upgrade it. I did get the MaxiPAD (iPad Pro) with the pen to use to draw and take notes however when I want to read or just in general, I use the Mini.
- aphextron 10y ago
  This is pretty much the answer. Tablets have a far longer lifetime than PC's (which are endlessly upgrade-able) and phones (which are constantly lost or destroyed).
Marazan 10y ago
The same going that happened with netbooks. Said as a happy eee901 owner and user.
- aphextron 10y ago
  >eee901 Man those things were the shit. I first learned Linux on my brand new EEE901.
  - baldfat 10y ago
    My kids still use it and I sometimes for and use it for ssh.
- bostand 10y ago
  I used my netbook until later year. It was still working fine (running windows 10), but then I decided to add a SSD and broke the poor thing.
  - Marazan 10y ago
    My first one broke after 4 years of continuous use, the battery went flat. So i bought a unused one from a work colleague and have been using it ever since.
- krylon 10y ago
  Ah, that brings back some fond memories! I still think there is a market for a netbook-type device, a cheap, small laptop with good battery life. But I guess that niche is now occupied by Chromebooks (which is sad, because Chromebooks are surprisingly expensive here in Germany). Edit: There are still netbooks being produced, HP makes one, IIRC.
hyperion2010 10y ago
5 years ago I was given an iPad 2 by a friend who had received it as a gift and was never going to use it (I think he had had it sitting in a box for a year at that point already). I have never updated the OS and I use it for reading. Sure, it is a little bit bigger than I would like, and the screen is low rez, but it lets me read books for the entirety of even the longest flights. I have looked at getting a newer android tablet (nexus 7 style) but nothing is worth the money since I have a perfectly functional one already. There are pretty hard limits on the performance you need to deliver all kinds of content since no one is using a tablet for serious production, there are better tools that are actually fit to task. All they can do is up the battery lifetimes. Well, marginally better for the environment I guess. I wonder how resale affects these markets.
- ianai 10y ago
  They could do plenty: -better screens (oled? color e-ink, perish the thought?) -better graphics processing (maybe sacrifice some battery or thinness) -incorporate top of the line features ('truetone' display, pens, etc) All I'm saying is car makers find a way to make it work every year.
tannhaeuser 10y ago
Yet not long ago everybody was anticipating the end of the general-purpose PC because a tablet (with an optional keyboard) was seen as good enough for "ordinary people", and the merger of MacOS into iOS is expected any day now. Now what is it?
- mercer 10y ago
  I think that assessment wasn't entirely wrong, it's just that smartphones, rather than tablets, turned out to be that general-purpose PC for many people.
  - alanfalcon 10y ago
    Smartphones got much larger. I think if it were just Apple, we'd still have tiny screens on our phones and iPads for general purpose computing at home. Thankfully there is competition and people voted for larger phones with their wallets, so now our phones are as large as we "need" them to be.
    - mercer 10y ago
      I'm sure that played a role. Personally I hate big phones, which is why I have the smallest iPhone (thankfully they keep that option, at least) and an iPad Mini. But many people around me are perfectly happy to use a big ass-phone for most of what they do. Good for them :-).
      - tannhaeuser 10y ago
        I, too, dislike big honking 5+" smartphones, and while I could see how they replace mini tablets, I don't think they can be used as general-purpose computing device in the way a tablet can.
shams93 10y ago
Back when the ipad first came out the iphone was far more limited and had a small screen. Now most of the ipad only apps are migrating to the iphone as well. With the large screen and powerful processor on par with the ipad there's less reason to need the ipad. Same with android, with large screens and powerful processors the need for tablets is going away, its an extra expense most people can't justify anymore.
yesprabhu 10y ago
Had high hopes on my purchase of iPad 2. Thought it would revolutionize my Internet experience. But after getting hold of iPhone 4S and later other smart phones my use of iPad dropped to zero. Didn't find the need. Now its a device for my kid for games and educational apps.
erelde 10y ago
The only tablet I've ever wanted to own is a light 12-13" e-ink reader for music sheets. Sony did one as an experiment and closed the division I think?
- baldfat 10y ago
  http://www.gvido.tokyo/ http://www.gvido.tokyo/ Its a dual screen e ink reader. From their FAQ: We are to make an announcement of the product On April 2017. There, You will find a lot more of GVIDO and related products & services. We are making great effort to be ready in mid 2017 About pricing The final price hasn’t yet set. Since it has 2 large scale E-INK monitors, the price of the first model is expected to be slightly higher than two of iPad Pro 12.9 inches. It’s getting slightly higher because of the new components though, We try hard to keep it as low as possible. Format will be PDF and it has a SD reader. http://www.gvido.tokyo/#faq http://www.gvido.tokyo/#faq
skc 10y ago
I rarely see tablets in the wild anymore. Has anyone else had the same experience? Even at the office I no longer see execs walking around with them. Just a few years ago these things were everywhere out in public. I assume the remaining holdouts have relegated them to bedtime devices.
- robodale 10y ago
  I keep my iPad on my couch end-table, if I need to do any browsing or streaming my phone cannot handle. An added benefit of keeping my iPad here is it serves as a decent TV tray.
- antisthenes 10y ago
  That's because tablets are a stupid toy fad. They combine the worst features of a laptop and a smartphone (too big to fit in your pocket, too awkward to type compared to a normal keyboard) and offer very dubious advantages, not to mention probably the worst software support out of all portable devices (barring smartwatches, another dumb fad). Sure, a lot of normies and apple fanboys bought into the fad originally, but now they're beginning to realize that the device is mostly useless except for some casual youtubing in bed or letting your kid play some educational games.
Piouw 10y ago
Recently I dusted my Asus Transformer TF700 and slapped an AOSP Nougat rom on it. It's reactive, has a good form factor and a crisp, luminous 1980x1200 screen. I can't see a reason to change it. (Bonus: I took on a little challenge with it: No Google services and only FOSS apps. It's an interesting experience.)
norea-armozel 10y ago
Am I wrong in assuming that electronics firms just don't realize the special nature of the rise of modern consumerism? What I mean by that is that I think it's obvious that consumerism as we've known it isn't sustainable in practice. Sure, there's always going to be a demand for new devices but I think the rate of replacement of them is and will be very slow for a long time. Once devices get good enough or service demand well enough then it becomes a different market entirely just like how cars are today (people replacing them years later and not just every year).
skdotdan 10y ago
Funnily enough, tablets were disrupted by phones, even considering the former are older.
digi_owl 10y ago
The problem as i see it is twofold. a) Google got into a platform civil war. Just as Android was getting serious about tablets, ChromeOS happened. b) Intel tried to ram ATOM down everyone's throat.
ouid 10y ago
Tablets are less convenient than phones or laptops for all tasks. "Hybrid classes never work in practice, you have to minmax". People hoped that tablets would be a useful addition to their lives, and now that they know that they're wrong, they have stopped buying them.

33 points by tadblarney 10y ago

frik 10y ago

"The iPad 2 is still in use today," IDC Senior Analyst Jitesh Ubrani tells TechCrunch. “The [original] iPad Minis and Air are all still in use today. They were being supported by Apple until very recently. People have been hanging onto these devices and they’re finding that they work just as well as they did when they were released" It's simply true. I have a iPad 2 and iPad Air 2, and both run fine. The former still on iOS6, so it is fast. Most people who upgraded iPad 2/3 to iOS7+ regretted doing so, and replaced their device. It's Apple's fault, if they want more sales they shouldn't fragment and confuse the customer with the whole iPad Air 2 not updating for years, than two iPad Pro models with higher price, and now the 9.7 model. People want faster hardware and new features with every model, otherwise there is no reason to switch and replace an otherwise good working device. It's the same for smartphones, tabets, notebooks and PCs. Only that tablets are in-between phones and notebooks, and many people around the world just got their first access to internet and only own a smartphone. So no tablet and notebook sales from those. If a brand stagnates, people start looking elsewhere for new more exciting devices. For example in China tier 1+2 cities the last 6 months there is a new trend, iPhone 7 was a big let down in their opinion, and so you see more and more high end Android phones - it happends very fast. To manufacturers of phones/tablets/notebooks/desktop: produce new better models with new exiting features. Why is my 2010 notebook has the same spec as 2017 models, despite new ones that meet even the spec cost almost twice as much? Why is dual core in 2017 models still almost the only option? Where are the augmented reality camera features in smartphones and tablets?

akoster 10y ago
Great comment. What you are saying is spot on. I had a 2009 17" Toshiba satellite dual-core I upgraded ~1.5 years ago to another Toshiba Satelite 17" with a quad-core haswell chip. Now my mom is looking to upgrade her aging 2010 Gateway 17" dual-core machine but for Intel's latest lineup, most i7 laptop CPUs are only dual-core and only a slight clock speed bump above the i5 models. I guess they felt quad-core mobile CPUs consume too much power for laptops but still, since they were able to do it a couple years ago, why have we taken a step backward? She also is a happy owner of a non-retina iPad mini which is still chugging along.
- jon-wood 10y ago
  I think the move to fewer cores and lower clock speeds was to improve battery life. You can still buy laptops with quad core CPUs (even Xeons if you look round), but battery life is nowhere near as good as the new dual core i7s
tqkxzugoaupvwqr 10y ago
I cannot agree with the quoted statement. Early Apple tablets do not work as well as when they were released. I bought an iPad 3. After each major iOS release it became slower. Now it runs iOS 9 and it is unbearably slow. I only ever use it to watch YouTube, and even this is an exercise in patience. Because of the performance drop, I had bought an iPad mini 4. After half a year I sold it because I simply didn’t use it often. I cannot imagine spending $400 on a new iPad. I will keep using my iPad 3 until it breaks. And I will not buy a new iPad again. The OS and form factor is too limited to do any serious work on it. (I’m not going to buy a keyboard and stand for a tablet just to have a subpar laptop experience.)
- hackits 10y ago
  Just as a side note, we've never needed to upgrade the ipad air 2 nor any prior tablet from apple. We're of horror stories of devices slowing down or degrading with each iteration of ios so we've been lucky in not keeping them up to date. On the other hand its actually been a negative impact in regards to wanting to buy a iphone. Knowing that if apple ever force a update or accidently swipe a notification away we could be looking at slower devices is a incentive not to buy their iphone products.
  - hkmurakami 10y ago
    I'm in the same boat not upgrading OS version, but it does limit your app choices significantly.
    - bostand 10y ago
      With the CIA ios exploits out in the wild now, how can you really be comfortable using such an insecure version?
      - hackits 10y ago
        If you're that worried you should just simply stop using the internet. People downloading the facebook or messenger app kind gives a clear message they don't care about their privacy or their data.
canuckintime 10y ago
You are conflating several issues that have little to do with the topic of what happened to tablet sales e.g. Apple's iPhone sales drop is China is only tangentially related to tablet sales drop worldwide (fwiw I agree your diagnosis about lack of fashionable iPhone upgrades, particularly a new design. the other significant factor is spiking iPhone prices in international market due to exchange rate). Tablet sales and upgrade patterns can't be directly compared to smartphones. Consumers upgrade their smartphones often because in key markets those purchases are subsidized (the single biggest factor in the iPhone's success was switching from a full price sale system of the original model to the subsidized system for the iPhone 3G). Tablets are more comparable to laptops/desktops. However iPad has even dropped below the Mac. Why is that? So back to the techcrunch article: > part of the slow down in sales can be chalked up to user disappointment in the devices’ limitation following the initial excitement around the space... growing size of smartphone displays has gone a ways toward cannibalizing tablet sales, as well, limiting the need for a much larger device when so many handsets are now within the six-inch range. On the high end of the spectrum, convertible touchscreen Windows 10 devices have eaten into tablet market share, while Chromebook sales have begun to dominate the education market that tablet makers once saw as a key use case... Amazon marks a rare bright spot on that end of the spectrum, due to its relatively unique ability to subsidize costs as it positions Fire tablets as, essentially, content delivery devices... When the iPad launched in '10 the iPhone was 3.5" and the laptops were big and bulky. In the following years that space for tablet growth was squeezed by large Android phablets and Macbook Airs (the 11" launched in a few months after the original iPad). Still the iPad, was proclaimed as the future of computing by Apple. It should have reached upwards to dethrone laptops/netbooks. The tablet problems are simple: 1) multitasking/multiwindow is basic on tablets and the UX is just not good enough, especially considering the disadvantages when compared to laptops/desktops with bigger screens 2) data/file management and sharing for projects spanning multiple persons and tools. iOS in particular is woefully lacking in this regard 3) poor input system. This is arguably the most critical factor. As long as a hardware QWERTY keyboard remains the most efficient way to provide text input then the laptop form factor, and OSes designed for that form factor, will remain dominant for productivity. An iPad with a hardware keyboard but without a mouse/trackpad is a sick UX joke resulting in arm fatigue. More than anything else, TABLETS NEED A REVOLUTIONARY SOFTWARE KEYBOARD or INPUT SYSTEM. That should be Apple's or a YC startup's first priority. (NB: tablets offer voice input, some actually decent, but that's obviously a nonstarter as general input in a noisy classroom, library, coffee shop, open office plan unless perhaps Apple can make a stenomask[1] fashionable. A revolutionary touch software keyboard still seems the best bet imo) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenomask https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenomask

dcw303 10y ago

There's some kind of obscure irony that the longevity of tablet hardware and software is having a negative effect on sales. Like netbooks, that could ultimately mean manufacturers lose interest in the form factor in favour of something with higher revenues. The tablet would have doomed itself by being too user friendly.

jimjimjim 10y ago

For me the ideal tablet size is the 7 inch tablet. Easier to browse with than a phone (possible to use mobile sites and desktop sites), easier to read (it's paperback size), easier to hold than a ipad/10inch tablet. can ANYONE recommend anything at least as good as a nexus7?

sundvor 10y ago
Personally I greatly enjoy the Tab S2 with Book Cover. It has an AMOLED screen which is superb for night time reading, and feels small enough to put almost anywhere. Samsung just released the next version of it, but I'm not sure how sold I am on the all glass design.
- bostand 10y ago
  Wait, there is a 7" version of tab S2?
  - sundvor 10y ago
    It is 8"; close enough to the Nexus 7 (I had the OG one).
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
ianai 10y ago
I love my ipad mini 2 for the same reason. If my iphone's too small for it then the mini is the next step. I can take both just about anywhere easily. I don't know how portable the 9.7" would feel - but I'm sure the 12.9" would live firmly at home or a backpack.
danieldk 10y ago
I find reading on a tablet quite terrible. Your eyes get tired and use late at night delays melatonin production. I like the Kindle Paperwhite a lot more for reading non-technical books and magazines.

DigitalSea 10y ago

The problem with tablets is they're incredibly limited. The hardware seems to improve with every generation, but specifically in the instance of iOS: the software seems to be stagnate. What's the point in having super fast storage, quad core processors and fast memory if the software is so limiting and horrible it doesn't let you take advantage of it? As a developer, I find iOS to be a horrible operating system and very limited. If you want to surf the web or play games then the iPad is great for that. The same thing applies for Android tablets, however I find Android tablets to be slightly more developer friendly because you can hack them and access powerful applications. Bottom line is tablets can never replace computers or laptops.

danieldk 10y ago
The same thing applies for Android tablets, however I find Android tablets to be slightly more developer friendly But Android tablets are also awful. Although I am primarily an Apple user and my wife uses an iPad, we bought an higher-end ASUS tablet based on Atom for me and our daughter (to watch cartoons on long car trips). The tablet came bloated with all kinds of nonsense apps, of which more than half cannot be removed or disabled. Android updates stopped after a year or so. It had an SD card slot, but it could only be used for a small subset of applications. The Nexus 7 2013 that we owned was better in the lack of crapware department. But the last Android update was in 2015 (6.0.1). After some iPads and the Nexus 7/ASUS adventures, I decided to stop using tablets completely. Laptops have become so light and compact that it's easy to take them to meetings (especially the MacBook 12" is great in this regard). As a bonus, I can just store my notes, etc. in plain text (org mode) in git, rather than being locked in some cloud silo.
- bostand 10y ago
  Nexus 7 was updated in 2016. Asus is king of crapware, never buy Asus.
- icebraining 10y ago
  As a bonus, I can just store my notes, etc. in plain text (org mode) in git, rather than being locked in some cloud silo. Not a bonus: on Android, you can use MobileOrg+SyncOrg (which syncs to any git remote). Or you can use Emacs on the terminal and sync using a generic generic git client like SGit.

ianai 10y ago

"In the past month, both Apple and Samsung have refreshed their flagship tablets for the first time since 2014" The first sentence doesn't say it all? These things aren't cheap (for most of us) and people want the latest and greatest. Updates have been coming in the 6 month to 12 months window for phones/tech. I know I wait for releases to purchase hardware. It's the only way to ensure the longest support window, for one.

toodlebunions 10y ago

My iPad collects dust. I use the iPhone Plus constantly though, which is nearly a tablet.

oomkiller 10y ago

My parents recently bought a new Windows laptop because their modern iPad can't do all of the things they want. If tablet software can't compete with PC, then their sales are bound to go to zero as PCs like the Surface become more prevalent. Personally, I don't own one as my phablet does everything that I would want a tablet to do, and my PC and Kindle do the rest.

OneTimePat 10y ago

Tablet sales are lagging in America because manufacturers are not innovating. One of the top rated Android tablets today is the Nvidia Shield K1. It's a great tablet. It costs $200. You can use it to stream a very playable PC gaming experience via GeForce Now provided you have a solid 20 mbps connection. You can connect it to your television and use it as a console. It's 3 years old and still pretty rock-and-roll weighed for it's entertainment value. Its display is easily cast to a television or monitor for anyone that needs to use it for a workspace via Google apps. And there isn't even anything on the American market that offers serious competition. Sure, there's the Google Pixel C. It's got a top notch Tegra X1, but it hobbled itself by not including an SD card slot. Google Drive is nice, but I don't want to be beholden to Google for my files. And the Switch looks gimmicky (and sub-par). So this far there's really no reason to move beyond the Nvidia Shield. At least not on the American Market. Then Asian market is doing much better. They're cranking out some quality spec Core M tablets for $200 to $300. If American tablet sellers would get in on the trend, we might see a decent uptick in sales.

bostand 10y ago
The nvidia tablet is still king of the tablet hill, despite its age. When the new one is released, I'm buying two.
- thrownblown 10y ago
  I had the first 1, and managed to turn that into 4 through two recalls (all basically cosmetic flaws) that have all at this point died. one was killswitched, recovered and killswitched again and bricked. one is stuck in a bootloop after a cm10->cm11 auto upgrade. the other two's batteries failed and i soldered usb cables in their place and they have a second life in the back of my electric junk drawer. I thought about buying a k1 tablet, but i really couldn't justify it as i have a one plus 3 that does almost everything a tablet did. and i can make calls on it and not feel like a goober. i don't think there's another tablet in the pipe: http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/11/rumored-follow-nvidia-shield-tablet-k1-cancelled/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/11/rumored-follow-nvidi... I have the first shield tv and its awesome. I use the g-force now service to stream witcher 3. I love streaming games. I used on-live back in the day, and was bummed when it failed. I lost like 10 games. I did here that nvidia had a lot to do with the nintendo switch, but i don't care enough to vet that rumor, so i will jsut spread it anyway.

cft 10y ago

I use an ultrabook and a 6" phone. No need for a tablet. They are redundant.

icebraining 10y ago
I went the other way: 7" tablet + small $20 featurephone. I think the whole combo is cheaper than a single 6" smartphone, and you can't beat the battery life.

myrandomcomment 10y ago

I have been using my original iPad Mini since it shipped. I have not found a reason to upgrade it. I did get the MaxiPAD (iPad Pro) with the pen to use to draw and take notes however when I want to read or just in general, I use the Mini.

aphextron 10y ago
This is pretty much the answer. Tablets have a far longer lifetime than PC's (which are endlessly upgrade-able) and phones (which are constantly lost or destroyed).

Marazan 10y ago

The same going that happened with netbooks. Said as a happy eee901 owner and user.

aphextron 10y ago
>eee901 Man those things were the shit. I first learned Linux on my brand new EEE901.
- baldfat 10y ago
  My kids still use it and I sometimes for and use it for ssh.
bostand 10y ago
I used my netbook until later year. It was still working fine (running windows 10), but then I decided to add a SSD and broke the poor thing.
- Marazan 10y ago
  My first one broke after 4 years of continuous use, the battery went flat. So i bought a unused one from a work colleague and have been using it ever since.
krylon 10y ago
Ah, that brings back some fond memories! I still think there is a market for a netbook-type device, a cheap, small laptop with good battery life. But I guess that niche is now occupied by Chromebooks (which is sad, because Chromebooks are surprisingly expensive here in Germany). Edit: There are still netbooks being produced, HP makes one, IIRC.

hyperion2010 10y ago

5 years ago I was given an iPad 2 by a friend who had received it as a gift and was never going to use it (I think he had had it sitting in a box for a year at that point already). I have never updated the OS and I use it for reading. Sure, it is a little bit bigger than I would like, and the screen is low rez, but it lets me read books for the entirety of even the longest flights. I have looked at getting a newer android tablet (nexus 7 style) but nothing is worth the money since I have a perfectly functional one already. There are pretty hard limits on the performance you need to deliver all kinds of content since no one is using a tablet for serious production, there are better tools that are actually fit to task. All they can do is up the battery lifetimes. Well, marginally better for the environment I guess. I wonder how resale affects these markets.

ianai 10y ago
They could do plenty: -better screens (oled? color e-ink, perish the thought?) -better graphics processing (maybe sacrifice some battery or thinness) -incorporate top of the line features ('truetone' display, pens, etc) All I'm saying is car makers find a way to make it work every year.

tannhaeuser 10y ago

Yet not long ago everybody was anticipating the end of the general-purpose PC because a tablet (with an optional keyboard) was seen as good enough for "ordinary people", and the merger of MacOS into iOS is expected any day now. Now what is it?

mercer 10y ago
I think that assessment wasn't entirely wrong, it's just that smartphones, rather than tablets, turned out to be that general-purpose PC for many people.
- alanfalcon 10y ago
  Smartphones got much larger. I think if it were just Apple, we'd still have tiny screens on our phones and iPads for general purpose computing at home. Thankfully there is competition and people voted for larger phones with their wallets, so now our phones are as large as we "need" them to be.
  - mercer 10y ago
    I'm sure that played a role. Personally I hate big phones, which is why I have the smallest iPhone (thankfully they keep that option, at least) and an iPad Mini. But many people around me are perfectly happy to use a big ass-phone for most of what they do. Good for them :-).
    - tannhaeuser 10y ago
      I, too, dislike big honking 5+" smartphones, and while I could see how they replace mini tablets, I don't think they can be used as general-purpose computing device in the way a tablet can.

shams93 10y ago

Back when the ipad first came out the iphone was far more limited and had a small screen. Now most of the ipad only apps are migrating to the iphone as well. With the large screen and powerful processor on par with the ipad there's less reason to need the ipad. Same with android, with large screens and powerful processors the need for tablets is going away, its an extra expense most people can't justify anymore.

yesprabhu 10y ago

Had high hopes on my purchase of iPad 2. Thought it would revolutionize my Internet experience. But after getting hold of iPhone 4S and later other smart phones my use of iPad dropped to zero. Didn't find the need. Now its a device for my kid for games and educational apps.

erelde 10y ago

The only tablet I've ever wanted to own is a light 12-13" e-ink reader for music sheets. Sony did one as an experiment and closed the division I think?

baldfat 10y ago
http://www.gvido.tokyo/ http://www.gvido.tokyo/ Its a dual screen e ink reader. From their FAQ: We are to make an announcement of the product On April 2017. There, You will find a lot more of GVIDO and related products & services. We are making great effort to be ready in mid 2017 About pricing The final price hasn’t yet set. Since it has 2 large scale E-INK monitors, the price of the first model is expected to be slightly higher than two of iPad Pro 12.9 inches. It’s getting slightly higher because of the new components though, We try hard to keep it as low as possible. Format will be PDF and it has a SD reader. http://www.gvido.tokyo/#faq http://www.gvido.tokyo/#faq

skc 10y ago

I rarely see tablets in the wild anymore. Has anyone else had the same experience? Even at the office I no longer see execs walking around with them. Just a few years ago these things were everywhere out in public. I assume the remaining holdouts have relegated them to bedtime devices.

robodale 10y ago
I keep my iPad on my couch end-table, if I need to do any browsing or streaming my phone cannot handle. An added benefit of keeping my iPad here is it serves as a decent TV tray.
antisthenes 10y ago
That's because tablets are a stupid toy fad. They combine the worst features of a laptop and a smartphone (too big to fit in your pocket, too awkward to type compared to a normal keyboard) and offer very dubious advantages, not to mention probably the worst software support out of all portable devices (barring smartwatches, another dumb fad). Sure, a lot of normies and apple fanboys bought into the fad originally, but now they're beginning to realize that the device is mostly useless except for some casual youtubing in bed or letting your kid play some educational games.

Piouw 10y ago

Recently I dusted my Asus Transformer TF700 and slapped an AOSP Nougat rom on it. It's reactive, has a good form factor and a crisp, luminous 1980x1200 screen. I can't see a reason to change it. (Bonus: I took on a little challenge with it: No Google services and only FOSS apps. It's an interesting experience.)

norea-armozel 10y ago

Am I wrong in assuming that electronics firms just don't realize the special nature of the rise of modern consumerism? What I mean by that is that I think it's obvious that consumerism as we've known it isn't sustainable in practice. Sure, there's always going to be a demand for new devices but I think the rate of replacement of them is and will be very slow for a long time. Once devices get good enough or service demand well enough then it becomes a different market entirely just like how cars are today (people replacing them years later and not just every year).

skdotdan 10y ago

Funnily enough, tablets were disrupted by phones, even considering the former are older.

digi_owl 10y ago

The problem as i see it is twofold. a) Google got into a platform civil war. Just as Android was getting serious about tablets, ChromeOS happened. b) Intel tried to ram ATOM down everyone's throat.

ouid 10y ago

Tablets are less convenient than phones or laptops for all tasks. "Hybrid classes never work in practice, you have to minmax". People hoped that tablets would be a useful addition to their lives, and now that they know that they're wrong, they have stopped buying them.