Page 7 - DIGICEL 30 MAART 2016

TECHNOLOGY B7
The consumer tablet is dying; long live the business tablet
ANICK JESDANUN
AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Tablets
may never again be the
consumer sensation they
once were, but they are
finding new life among pro-
fessionals.
Apple took aim at that
market in announcing a
second iPad Pro model
this week. Samsung started
selling the Windows-based
Galaxy TabPro S last week,
while Microsoft doubled
down on its Surface tablet
business last fall with Sur-
face Book, a laptop whose
keyboard pops off to leave
behind a tablet. Google
has its own using Android,
the Pixel C.
Unlike early models, these
tablets are meant to be
used with a physical key-
board and a stylus. That
makes them appealing to
people looking to get stuff
done, whether that’s typ-
ing a report or drawing on
a graphics app.
“It’s no secret the tablet
business has slowed down
overall except in places
where there’s productiv-
ity,” says Gary Riding, a se-
nior vice president for mo-
bile computing marketing
at Samsung. (“Productiv-
ity,” in this case, being jar- tops. But people haven’t
gon for work as opposed to
play.)
These new devices also
have higher price tags.
Many sell for almost $1,000,
or even more with acces-
sories. Companies market
them as PC replacements
rather than devices for
watching video, reading
books and playing games
— that is, things you can al-
In this Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, file photo, Galaxy TabPro S tablet
computers are on display during a Samsung news conference
at CES Press Day at CES International in Las Vegas.
Associated Press
ready do with your phone.
The Surface Pro 3 is “much
thinner than a laptop, and
when you have the case
with the keyboard, it’s es-
sentially a laptop,” says
Ryan Hastman, who now
leaves his Mac laptop be-
hind while traveling to raise
money for the University of
Alberta in Canada.
Tablet shipments fell 10 per-
cent to 207 million world-
wide last year and are
projected to fall another 6
percent this year, accord-
ing to IDC. But one subset
— tablets with detachable
keyboards — more than
doubled to 17 million last
year. It’s projected to grow
to 64 million in 2020 and
represent 30 percent of the
overall tablet market, rath-
er than 8 percent now.
“It’s not all doom and
gloom,” IDC analyst Jitesh
Ubrani says. “Microsoft’s
done a very good job at
marketing detachables.
Everyone’s now jumping on
that bandwagon.”
In a sense, Apple was a
victim of its own success
following the iPad’s de-
but in 2010. Tablets took
off with consumers who
found them appealing re-
placements for home lap-
replaced them as often
as phones. And as phones
got bigger, some people
began wondering whether
they needed a tablet at all.
Enter Microsoft, long the
king of “productivity” soft-
ware, which in 2012 de-
signed a tablet that ran
Windows and targeted
professionals. The Microsoft
Surface didn’t have the
Wednesday 30 March 2016
fun apps that iPads and In this Monday, March 21, 2016, file photo, members of the me-
Android tablets had, but it dia and invited guests take a look at the new iPad Pro during an
had Word, Excel and other event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
Office apps long before Associated Press
entertainment-oriented
devices did. It also has a placing PCs. Many profes-
USB port and other features sionals in creative industries,
missing in most tablets. he says, prefer tablets over
It took Microsoft two years laptops for presentations,
to get it right, though. The sketching and design.
Pro 3 in 2014 was the first
Surface with a fully adjust-
able kickstand that mim-
icked the flexibility of lap-
top screens. And last fall’s
models were the first Sur-
face devices with Windows
10, which mirrored tradi-
In this Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, Panos Panay, Microsoft’s Nicole Dalesio, an artist and
vice president for Surface Computing, talks about the new Sur- teacher in San Jose, Cali-
face Pro 4 tablet during a presentation in New York. fornia, says the iPad Pro’s
Associated Press stylus offers more precision
than other devices and
tional PCs much more than tomers additional choice “mimics the natural effect
the Windows 8 it replaced. — a 9.7-inch iPad Pro that of using things like brushes
“Everyone wants a tablet, starts at $599, $200 cheap- or pencils or charcoal.”
and everyone needs a lap- er than the 12.9-inch origi- That’s not to say PCs are
top,” says Brian Hall, Micro- nal (add about $250 for the going away. Hall acknowl-
soft’s general manager for keyboard and stylus). Just edges that people have
Surface. “You can have an as Microsoft and Samsung cheaper options with tra-
approach that says people have done, Apple is target- ditional laptops. And while
need to buy one of each, ing the hundreds of millions Dallas chef Nicholas Harri-
or you can have an ap- of people whose Windows son says his iPad Pro can do
proach that says there’s a machines are at least five everything his restaurants
happy medium.” years old. Apple says most need, he has a PC at home
The holiday quarter was iPad Pro customers are for hard-core games.
the best yet for Surface, coming from Windows. That’s not to say entertain-
with revenue increasing 29 Bryan O’Neil Hughes, head ment-focused tablets are
percent to $1.35 billion. of outreach and collabo- going away, either. Ama-
But don’t count Apple out. ration for software maker zon has a healthy business
IDC estimates that Apple Adobe, says a faster pro- selling such devices for as
sold more than 2 million iPad cessor and better graphics low as $50 — creating its
Pros in the holiday quarter make the Pro something own niche, just as Apple,
when it launched, com- people choose — rather Samsung and Microsoft are
pared with 1.6 million units than settle for — when re- with professionals.
for Surface. Apple’s advan- “This is what happens as
tage: apps designed from markets mature,” says
the start for touch screens Jan Dawson, chief analyst
and battery conservation, with Jackdaw Research.
rather than ones adapted “There’s a lot more market
from the mouse-and-key- that can only be served
board world of plugged-in with niche and segmented
Windows PCs. products.”q
Now, Apple is giving cus-