Sure, not every one of those iPads is a lost PC sale. But you have to suspect that it's making a substantial difference. If you buy an iPad (or a Google Nexus 7, as a lot of people are presently doing) that's money you don't have to spend on a PC. Add up the money spent on tablets and consider that it could have gone on PCs and you realise why Microsoft announced in June that it was to sell its own tablet, the Surface, running Windows 8, available some time before Christmas. The Surface and its brethren might do just as well as the iPad.The Google Nexus 7 tablet pc features a 7 inch high definition display, a quad core processor and 10 finger multi-touch screen. Added to this the tablet offers the latest version of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean software, the newest version of the worlds most popular mobile platform with access to the Google Play apps store.
Which only leaves one tricky question: is the Surface a tablet or a PC? That's one where the teams at Gartner and IDC go quiet. It looks like a tablet, but it runs Windows, which is the desktop operating system. Maybe the way to get the PC market to grow again is by redefining other stuff as a PC too. The only problem then is that it might require including the iPad. If that happens, Apple becomes the world's largest PC manufacturer. And I don't think Microsoft would like that. It's going to be a long summer.
A spokesmen for Cheapest.co.uk commented: “the 16gb tablet device has proved extremely popular, not just with ourselves but across the market. Our suppliers are expecting their next delivery of the Nexus 7 on the 10th August but it is possible to reserve the device.” For those of you who are still new to the whole tablet game, let us fill you in on what one is:In general terms, today's tablet computers sport touch screens ranging in size from 7- up to 13-inches. These dimensions are by no means static, and boundaries can be blurred as smartphones get larger displays, a la the 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note.
They continued: “It would appear though that users want the extra space as the smaller 8gb version is still available at a number of stores. Is this possibly a sign that end users want devices to store data on their device as they are not yet up to speed with the cloud method of storage?” We're choosing tablets because more and more we want to do things – well, computing things – on the move. I see people pull out tablets in situations where they wouldn't pull out a laptop: a commuter waiting on a platform for a train, a mother giving her child something to play with, a business person handing a demonstration around in a meeting. Computing has changed from being something you go to a computer to do to something that the computer comes with you to do. It's a subtle change, but world-altering for PC makers.
The Asus Google Nexus 7 tablet PC has featured in the tech news over the past week as heavy demand for the 16gb version caused a number of stockists to sell out. As the companies first move into the tablet pc market, it created quite a stir and caused Google to halt new orders on their own Google Play store as well as at a number of physical stores. And with choice comes decisions - difficult decisions. Do you eschew Apple's high prices, join the Android brigade and find the best iPad alternative? Or do you give in to near-perfection and the get the new iPad 3? Physical keyboards are also a rarity, but there are the exceptions such as the Asus Transformer Prime, which comes with a keyboard dock for the tablet.
