Tweet me!Now, the question remains - "How long can Apple get away with this?". Basically, this guy bought this gear in an attempt to replicate a fully functioning portable computing, complete with content creation capabilities. Needless to say, he only had a paragraph written by the time I left. Maybe it was writer's block.
Last year, in my Mobile Computing Wars series, I said Don’t Count Microsoft Out of the Ultra-Mobile Computing Wars Just Yet. Basically, what the guy described above and what everyone who buys a tablet is trying to do is to get the full desktop mobile computing experience in a more portable, user friendly, interactive package. If Microsoft provides the full Windows/Office productivity and app availability experience in the intuitive, ultra-portable touch screen form factor - its game over.
With that being said, IBM just announced the Lenovo convertible tablet with 9 to 24 hour battery life, Gorilla Glass option, Core i3 to i7 processors and 12.5 inch IPS displays starting at $899.
These tablets weigh in at twice that of the iPad, but deliver 4x the functionality at comparable pricing, and up to 2.5x the battery life. Factor in the keyboard option for both and it should be a no-brainer for enterprise use.
As I have said, beware the rapid commoditization of the tablet space this year. Apple has NEVER seen this much credible competition, and neither has any other tech vendor outside of the PC market.
Reference Steve Jobs Calls End Of the PC, We Call The End Of The Fat Margin Tablet – Including The Pretty iPad, With Proof! and then The Tablet Pricing Wars Have Commenced, Targeting Apple’s iPad 2 Which Is Not Even For Sale Yet…
You do know what's going to end up happening, don't you? Microsoft will figure out (and rather quickly), how to offer the full Windows experience - complete with its existing repertoire of apps on the slim, touch GUI, tablet form factor popularized by Apple, but invented by Microsftie itself. Reference Next generation Windows will run on ARM chips.
Of course, if they would have had more competition they would have done this in the beginning. But then again, if I had a billion dollars, I'd be a billionaire - Wouldn't I? If... If.. If... From the aforementioned link...
Microsoft has announced that the next version of Windows will run on “System on a Chip” (SoC) architectures including ARM-based processors. While Microsoft was making this announcement, NVIDIA was busy teasing us with something called Project Denver — an upcoming high performance ARM chip that will be able to run desktop operating systems. You know, like Windows.
Microsoft says Windows will also be able to support chips from Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and others, as well as SoC platforms from Intel, AMD, and other companies working on x86 SoC architecture.
This means support for hardware-accelerated graphics in Windows, the full version of Internet Explorer, and other Windows apps will work on ARM-based chips.
This could have huge implications for low power ARM-based tablets, notebooks and other devices, but it also means we’ll likely see a growing number of high performance chips from companies like NVIDIA designed to change the way we think about the distinctions between desktop and mobile computing applications.
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