6 ms·
In a lot of cases a scaled (or just small) phone app is good enough. But... overall.. I think the tablet category is just not a very big one. I had an iPad and
by dalbasal 8y ago
In a lot of cases a scaled (or just small) phone app is good enough. But... overall.. I think the tablet category is just not a very big one. I had an iPad and an old 7" nexus. When they died, I didn't replace.
Phones got bigger and better. We got better at thumb typing and comfortable holding screens close.
Reading on a tablet for example, is not that different to a phone these days and a (cheap) dedicated reader is better still. Meanwhile, laptops kept getting more mobile. The space between my phone and my laptop is just not that big. I found that I only ever charged it before flights, for movies which is great on tablets. But even that.. laptops and phones work good too.
Otherwise, my tablets were often battery-dead and I most tablets i come across in friends living rooms are dead. They don't get much use. When a laptop or phone died, I need a new one tomorrow. The tablet... no urgency.
Tablets are fun and cool. People like them. I'm not sure they use them as much as they expected to. It's a less extreme version of smart watches. Fun. Likeable. Not essential for most people.
The problem is that the android and iOS monoliths (especially sofwarists) will always put the phones first. If we had a less centralised ecosystem, tablets would have their own specialists.
- __sr__ 8y agoI guess that varies from person to person. My iPad Pro, for example, is my most used personal device. I prefer it over my phone whenever possible. In fact, I like phones small - it’s a pain to pull out a brick every time I want to talk. It’s a matter of personal taste, I guess.
- EpicEng 8y ago>It’s a matter of personal taste, I guess. Of course it is, but tablet sales have been declining for years.
- macjohnmcc 8y agoIs it because of the lack of interest or is it because people aren't replacing them because they are still working for them? I haven't lost interest in tablets but I also haven't bought one in four years because mine suits my needs.
- giancarlostoro 8y agoI never buy a tablet because none of them are competitive enough. I usually have better specs on the phone in my pocket than tablets I usually see. I never understood why Android tablets did not get more competitive.
- macjohnmcc 8y agoIt certainly doesn't seem so for Android. The last Android tablet I bought was the Nexus 7 in 2013. Still use it from time-to-time.
- mnem 8y ago163.5M is still a significant number of sales per year though. I don't think it's a dying segment yet. Interestingly detachable tablet sales have increased for the past few years. Source: https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43549518 https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS43549518
- __sr__ 8y agoI’d say tablet sales are approaching their stable values.
- pier25 8y agoiPad sales peaked a few years ago, but they still represent a good chunk of Apple’s revenue. https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad-sales-since-q3-2010/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/269915/global-apple-ipad... https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/01/2q-2018-results/ https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/01/2q-2018-results/
- __sr__ 8y agoIt’s more like cell phones have created unreasonable expectations for sales. People change phones once ever 12-24 months. Tablets, on the other hand, easily last 3-4 years. In that sense, tables have more in common with laptops than phones. People who need them, buy them all the time. It is just that not as many people need tablets as phones. Initially a lot of tables were sold because of the hype. But then people realised that not everyone needs a tablets — and theat tablets can be shared among the family — unlike phones. Hence the so called “decline”. I like to think that tablet sales are reaching their stable values rahpther than just declining.
- doingmything 8y agoDo people stilll talk on phones? Serious question. I think I do about 99% of my communication via text or other messaging
- tambourine_man 8y agoI guess it depends on the demographics. But one thing that annoys me is that people don’t usually realize how much faster and clearer voice conversation can be. After 4 or 5 rapid text exchanges I usually send “can I call you?”
- stryk 8y agoI see this question asked a lot on almost all tech-centric places on the 'net. I think it's a decent example of the "thought bubble" that happens in tech circles both online and off. Where is it that these people asking the question actually _go_ - in real life - that they don't see many people talking via voice on their phones? I ask because almost everywhere I go or practically have ever gone since cell phones became ubiquitous, up to and including this very morning, I come across multiple instances of people talking on their phones.
- __sr__ 8y agoDefinitely. Text is good for “lazy” communication — so is email. By lazy, I mean, I sent you a text and you can respond whenever you like. But if the communication is real time - i.e. the sender expects a quick response and vice versa, voice call is usually better. In fact, unless I know the person very well, I usually send a text asking if it is a good time to talk.
- howard941 8y agoThey do when driving.
- mercury888 8y agoNah I love my iPad Pro 10.5
- chiefalchemist 8y agoYes. But I think the gist of the point is you're in the fringe, the minority.
- dalbasal 8y agoI meant it even more delicately than that. I think (a) more people thought they would be in his boat than were, just because tablets are fun and likeable and (b) as phones/laptops got bigger/smaller, and improved faster.... There is a little less need for tablets now than 5 years ago. That's why (I think) they will get less investment, like this article.
- mrexroad 8y agoI’ve owned every other generation iPad since launch. The iPad Pro 10.5 is something special. Keyboard cover, screen size, split view, effortless portability... they add up in a way that has significantly changed how I use it. I rarely use my MBP away from my desk anymore. Aside from work requiring Xcode, Smart Keyboard cover + ssh client + tmux works surprisingly well (for me) for away-from-desk dev work.
- defined 8y agoI have the same tablet and the same experience. If they stopped making the iPad Pro, or something like it, I would be very much affected, because I do a great deal of real-world work on it, in places that would be much less hospitable to even small laptops. I, too, do ssh + tmux, as well as Textastic, Pythonista, and Working Copy (git), so much so that when I showed a colleague what I did, he exclaimed in an astonished tone that the only things he thought people used iPads for were email, browsing, and games. That remark prompted me to make an 11 minute video (all done on the iPad using screen recording, Keynote, and iMovie) of creating a Linode, sshing into it, installing a user with SSH login, logging out and sshing in as the new user, installing the latest Docker from docker.com, and demoing some of the apps I just mentioned (to fit a 15 minute time budget). The latest iPads are not toys; they can be used for professional work. With LTE access, I can easily work almost anywhere; working on a plane is much easier than with a laptop (for me - I'm pretty tall and it's already a squeeze).
- smaddox 8y agoMy nephews are constantly on their iPads playing games or watching YouTube.
- sizzle 8y agoLost a ton of pictures on a Nexus 7, any idea if the battery is replaceable? Charging does nothing...
- supernovae 8y agoI'll be honest, I look at my phone like I do an iPad these days - I find the same reasons I don't like a classic tablet is the same reasons I don't like my phone much anymore. Apps suck, I'd prefer mobile web and if I have to do anything that requires brainpower then I always reach for my MacBook or my surface pro.