Tablets: A Business Succeed Story?

"Being wrong is one of the perils of prognostication. Early last year I wondered what was so special about the iPad, given its price and features. It is supposed to fit in the gap between mobile phones and notebook PCs, but to me there's not much of a gap to fill there. A phone is small and the ultimate in portability, but inconvenient for data input or high fidelity display. A notebook (or even a netbook) is a pain to lug around, but is much more flexible on the input and display side. A tablet like the iPad has a slightly larger screen, but essentially inherits all the other drawbacks of an iPhone."

"My pessimism didn't stop the iPad from becoming wildly successful, though. In my defense, just about everyone underestimated its popularity and potential. Take a look at these numbers for projections and actual sales in 2010. They sold almost 15 million units! Perhaps at least some of those sales have come at the expense of dedicated devices like portable DVD players, Kindles, or GameBoys. Still, that kind of popularity is starting to cut into PC sales, even though PCs far outsell tablets."