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Acer Rethinks the "Tablet Bubble," Launching $99 Tablet
retroworks writes "In August 2011, Acer Chairman JT Wang declared that the consumer affection for tablets had already begun to cool, basically labeling it a fad. What a difference a year (and a half) makes. Acer now plans to introduce a 'category killer' $99 tablet. 'In the past few months, we've made project roadmap changes in response to big changes in the tablet market,' according to a source at the Wall Street Journal. 'The launch of the Nexus 10 has changed the outlook for what makes competitive pricing.' Acer is aiming the new tablet at emerging markets, competing with Chinese 'white box' tablets (already available in Shenzhen at $45 each)."
I don't see how tablets are any different from netbooks. They're semi-useful devices that have a limited place but are outclassed by more capable machines which have been around for a long time. Acer may now be willing to get on the bandwagon for the sake of some short-term profits, but that doesn't make Mr. Wang's declaration any less correct.
I can say with certainty that the tablet revolution is just beginning. The simple truth is that a huge amount of home users don't REALLY want a PC. They think they want a PC, but they really don't. They want a machine that is cheap, gets them on Facebook, has a video/audio player, a web browser, email and Skype and is as low maintainance as possible. It's true that tablets are spectacularly bad productivity devices, they are mostly consumption devices. The thing is, the vast majority of home users are pure consumers and couldn't give 2 shits about productivity applications.
Most tablets lack what an analog of a clipboard needs - a good digitizer instead of finger-oriented touchscreen. If I'm going to take notes in a meeting, I'd much prefer a keyboard, tyvm.
I can see tablets as useful in the workspace when they're in hands of a warehouse worker or automechanic or a doctor (given, again, a good digitizer or voice recognition) or a lot of other jobs with lots of walking and/or only needing a reference, but meeting or any other office job? That'd be just fashion statement.
In a meeting, a tablet is an opportunity to have all your important documents at your fingertips, plus a place to take quick notes. Done well, it can be tidy, convenient, and less distracting than folders and notebooks and stuff. Done poorly, of course, it's like anything else done poorly.
Well, if it's a toy, it has to be just about my favorite toy. I'd rather have a tablet than a laptop myself
Then quite clearly you do not really belong on slashdot. Don't take this as an insult, but you are not a normal slashdot user if a tablet can replace a laptop in your universe. Its my grandmothers universe where a tablet can replace a laptop, because she isnt a nerd. She is just a technology consumer, and apparently you are just a technology consumer too.
Really?
Every Slashdot user uses his computers data-entry capabilities 24/7?
He does not spend much of his free time watching random episodes of long-dead Sci-Fi series, reading Slashdot, browsing Wikipedia, etc. At all hours of the entire day a Slashdotter is actually entering data.
Because a tablet's only real drawback as a main machine is you can't enter data on them very well. They can't do Photoshop, Word, coding, or long emails. They do games, content consumption, and short creation tasks just fine.
This personal computer thing is just a fad. You can't do real work on them. People aren't throwing out their mainframes at work.
Portable computers are dumb. They're too expensive and heavy. If you want real computing resources you won't be able to carry it with you.
This PDA thing is just a fad. A computer in your pocket is just a toy.
eBooks are just a fad. People still want their paper books. This will pass.
DMP's are just toys. Who wants to listen to highly compressed digital music when you've got portable cd players?
Tablets are just toys. Nobody is going to buy them in place of laptops and netbooks.