Are Tablets Just a Fad? I await the inevitable goalpost moving with considerable anticipation. 2012: "The cloud thing is just another fad that's making the first fad last longer" OR "The high-end 3rd party games changed it from a useless fad into something that's just overpriced".
Are Tablets Just a Fad? If anything, it might be sooner than a year. Apple's competitors already seem to be realizing that tablets don't have a market. All of the ipad competitors have flopped. And the ipad is just selling to the usual Apple hipsters and morons who will buy anything with an Apple logo on it. Steve Jobs could shit in a box and they'd line up to buy it.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? In case anyone is interested. $100 off any tablet "in store" at Staples. Excludes Nooks, Kindles, and HP Touchpads. Makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 $400 or the Dell Streak wifi 7" $200. http://reg.e.staples.com/c/s/tagfrm/hBOJnz1B7SHGCB8ca0OCYWUNv53/coupon.html?n=927
Are Tablets Just a Fad? If that were actually true, then it would be literally impossible for Apple's sales to increase each year. They would never reach new customers. iPad sales have increased 183% for the most recent quarter vs. last year.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? They're on clearance because no one is buying them. Hipsters are the first in line on launch day, but morons take longer to buy things. They usually come in at the tail end of a fad. And there are a lot more morons than hipsters.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? told you what I'd do with one if I had one?? no way would I spend 400 US greenbacks on an interactive picture frame. Even IF they could somehow get the eyes to follow you and dart back when you look at them
Are Tablets Just a Fad? thus the addage, a new moron is born every day.... I'm not sure why netbooks are a 'fad' though... sure their underpowered and probably cheaply made, but it don't take a sandy bridge to surf the internet or play 18 month old games... for 400 bucks it's a perfect second or third computer. Do you need it though? bout as much as you need a smartphone. I'm gettin rid of my smartphone, I'd call THAT a worthless phad. But really it all depends on your aspect I suppose. I make no money so I don't need a costly contract.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? Actually, I'd say my smartphone keeps me from truly needing an iPad or Netbook. I don't use it for hours on end, but it comes in handy in a pinch for quick "couch computing".
Are Tablets Just a Fad? Yeah, I'd say a smartphone is really the one thing that makes sense. Converges multiple devices into one. You get a phone plus a everything a tablet does. You buy it off contract, it costs as much as a tablet. T-mobile USA still lets you have a smartphone without requiring a data plan if you don't get one subsidized.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? you'd rather spend an extra 20 bucks a year for so many years, I'd rather just spend 400 bucks once. at 20 bucks a month that's just 20 months, or a year and 3/4ths. Plus the extra money spent on upgrading to the latest technology. If your truly penny pinching a smartphone is really dumb. But that's just me. Pretty sure most of you aren't living on a limited income like me. And thus we have these two 'fads'. One for folks who live in luxury and one for folks who don't really wish too. I mean I could... but as I've found out this last 2 years. the only thing that my laptop can't do that my smartphone can do better is fit in my pocket. made especially hard now that I got that extra 20 bucks a month taking up space in there too lol But hey? what do I know? I had a WinMo 6.5 phone and some plain vanilla contract, I'm sure it could be made more affordable and better features. I'm just giving reason to my 'faddy' netbook. granted, as well, I dont have one of those horrendous 10 inch ones. Boy do I LOVE it when I use my 24 inch desktop rather than my 11.5 inch netbook... but I'm surely not ashamed of either one or dismissing it as just a fad. I get MUCH too much use out of it. Use I'd "suffer" out of my smartphone, yes. But that's redundant. By suffer I mean getting MY personal uses out of a cel phone is like drawing blood from a stone... I don't gps or other such uses you might find better on it, I just surf web pages. And the 3g here is SOOOOOO slow. Anyway I'm just unimpressed.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? Smartphones can technically do the same functions, but the experience isn't the same. Web browsing, email, video, books, magazines, comics, games...they're all significantly enhanced by using a bigger screen. Yes, the iPad can't fit in your pocket like a smartphone, but it was never intended as a replacement. However, it can easily replace a laptop or even a desktop for the general public. Smartphones and tablets are transitioning into being the general computing devices that people use the most throughout the day, and laptops/desktops are transitioning into being specialized computing devices for certain types of professional level programs.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? What planet are you living on? Sure, smartphones are everywhere, but I've literally only ever seen two people outside of an Apple store with an ipad. One was some ghetto fabulous person trying to look rich while I was renewing my license at the DMV. The other is my Mac cultist brother in law who buys anything with an Apple logo on it. I don't know anyone who owns an Android tablet, and I've never seen one outside of a store.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? The planet where growth in smartphone and tablet sales are booming and laptop/desktop sales overall are either stagnant or in decline. Apple has sold over 25 million iPads since April 2010, and that accounts for a higher revenue share at 21% than 18% for Apple laptops/desktops (despite the fact that laptop/desktop growth for Apple is still MUCH better than the PC industry average). I would say that is signaling a transition for general computing devices, i.e., what mass consumers are going to use for a computer most of the time. I think it's obvious that laptops/desktops are becoming specialized devices, rather than serving as the computing appliance for the mass market.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? 25 million compared to the hundreds of millions of windows PCs sold in the same time period? Yes, that's what we call a fad.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? You just have to be active in researching your options! The way you are looking at it, it seems like you're disregarding the fact that you're paying the extra money for mobile data. That, in itself, is a huge feature. If you don't need it, then you can just read below. You can buy a smartphone unsubsidized, which costs as much as a tablet ($500~). In the US, you're pretty much limited to one carrier, T-mobile, that allows you to get an unsubsidized phone and not require a data plan. This is what my friend does. He's a real penny pincher like you. He actually just recently switched to the Walmart family mobile plan (runs off of tmobile's network) which is prepaid. He uses a T-Mobile G2 phone. The data plans on that service are prepaid so you only pay if you need it. There's also virgin mobile and boost mobile (both run off of sprint's network) which are also prepaid. Their data plans are included in their pricing, but are ridiculously low. Virgin mobile gives you 300mins and unlimited text/data for $35/month (just raised from $25 a month). Boost mobile's shrinkage plan starts you off at $50/month for unlimited everything and then after consecutive on-time payments every 6 months, you'll get $5 dropped off of your monthly plan until you hit $35/month after 18 months. Yep, $35/month for unlimited everything. Virgin and Boost mobile offer quite a few android phones too. Most recently, Virgin mobile got the Motorola Triumph. It uses a second gen snapdragon cpu (same as in HTC thunderbolt) and stock android (froyo). It seriously depends on how you view the whole picture. The smartphone makes the MOST sense if you are penny pinching. I'm not just comparing to laptop uses, but also netbook uses. Unless of course, like alterego mentioned, you want the bigger display. If you are doing day to day things, it takes care of pretty much all of it. Especially in my case where I use almost all of google's services, such as google docs. I just pull them from the cloud, update them etc. My friend, as I mentioned above, literally doesn't even use his computer anymore unless he wants to download movies or other scandalous activity. Especially the fact that you can cancel your home internet if you want to take it that far. Take the cheaper option and just use your mobile data wherever you go, instead of using it just at home? Although, in your case, you stated your 3g is slow since you live in the boonies.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? Doesn’t Sprint drop calls for Virgin and Boost when their towers get over saturated?
Are Tablets Just a Fad? I've never heard of that, although it's possible. The one downside I know with going with either carrier is that you will have Sprint service but you will not be able to roam on verizon's network like Sprint customer's can. And of course, there's no 4g service for prepaid yet either. With these prices, you can't really complain.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? Well I might complain. Are you saying Virgin and Boost won’t have a signal in an area only covered by Verizon or are there roaming fees?
Are Tablets Just a Fad? What it means is that you are only covered within Sprint covered areas. I have a personal example. There is a mall near my house. When I go inside the mall, in some areas inside, I lose my sprint signal probably because it's not able to penetrate through the walls. The Verizon signal is strong enough so my phone switches to roam on Verizon instead. Sprint customers can roam on verizon at no charge. It's not recommended to use this to your advantage if you live or work in a non-sprint covered area though. Carriers have a right to terminate your service if you hit xx% of roaming vs. usage on their own network. So what this means is if I was on Virgin or Boost Mobile, I would be left with no signal at all in those areas as those services do not roam at all. So yeah, no roaming fees at all due to no roaming provided.
Are Tablets Just a Fad? So it’s a trade off then. Cheap data but poor phone service. I think I’d still rather have a phone that works everywhere.