Should tablets be classified alongside notebooks as Mobile PCs? HP has its fingers crossed and hopes no as the rising popularity of the iPad could see a new mobile PC king crowned in 2012.
If tablets are considered as mobile PCs, Apple is expected to ship 60 percent of global units, or 60 million iPads in 2012. Add 15 million MacBooks next year and the Cupertino, Calif. company will sell 75 million mobile units in 2012, accounting for 25-30 percent of the worldwide notebook market.
That’s compared to 45-50 million units from HP, industry publication DigiTimes reports Friday, citing sources.
Several analyst firms already consider the iPad a PC. In 2010, the classification made Apple the top-PC seller in the United States. In January, Canalys found Apple ranked as the No. 3 global PC maker when Mac and iPad sales were combined, putting the tech giant just behind Acer and HP. Arguments against classifying the iPad as a PC weakened even further when Apple unveiled iOS 5. The new mobile OS eliminated the need to sync the tablet with a PC. The advent of wireless syncing with iTunes coupled with iCloud backups also removed any need for a PC for iPad owners.
What do you think? Is it time to consider the iPad as a PC, like the MacBook?
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
14 responses to “iPad Could Help Apple Dethrone HP as Mobile PC King in 2012”
I think the one thing that still is a bit lacking is file handling, unless I am wrong. Â Like if I am in Pages and save a document can I just hook my iPad to a PC or Mac and transfer the file? Â
Bit of a stretch to call an ipad a PC under any circumstances but mischievous all the same. I own a Macbook Pro and an Ipad. i had hoped the ipad would replace the Macbook….not a chance! In many ways its still a toy but hopefully the ‘serious’ stuff will increase in pace (the crap like angry birds doesn’t leave me confident) and make the iPad a much more rounded product.
iPad is not a PC by any means. I could see if you were talking about the MacBook Air but def not iPads.
No I think you would have to email it to yourself to download on your Mac/PC.Â
Hey Sutherland instead of spewing out fan boy nonsense ever thought of trying to write a real article. HP is so far ahead in its PC sales numbers Apple isn’t even in the same area code. First of all the iPad isn’t even a PC therefore it’s numbers shouldn’t be included in the overall numbers. Second of all Apple can’t even keep up with current iToy demand and you seriously think they’ll be able to produce 60 million next year when they can’t even keep up with current demand? Impossible, as hard a task master as Apples lapdog Foxxconn may be they could only get away with working only so many people to death before the Chinese fascist ruffian commie govt pretended to do something about it. Keep this nonsense up and I’m going to start calling you Brownlee The Second.
I absolutely think tablets should be classified alongside the PC! While they do present all the challenges you’ve mentioned, they’re so widely popular that people will be finding ways to work on them. It’s bottom-up, user-driven demand. That’s exactly why we are releasing our app, Coaxion, for the iPad in the upcoming weeks, because people are using their iPads like PC’s, and the less difficult, the better.
HP sales dropped 23% last quarter, tablets should be considered PCs especially since Microsoft considers them PCs, and Foxconn makes computers for HP and many other companies too. You are an idiot.
First of all it doesn’t matter if HP umbers are down they still produce more overall PC’s then Apple produces Mac’s. Second of all it’s because the world is in the middle of a global recession that PC numbers are down. Those lower numbers have little or nothing to do with IPad. Third of all I know Foxxconn makes other electronics for other companies but that DOESN’T LET APPLE OFF THE HOOK FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH A SWEATSHOP THAT OPERATES ITS ASSEMBLY PLANTS IN FACIST AND THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES WITH GOVTS THAT ARE CORRUPT AND TREAT THEIR OWN CITIZENS LIKE DOGS. Fourth of all until iPad can deliver full unincumbered functionalty out of the box meaning the user doesn’t have to install 50 different apps to halfway attain that functionality it’s nothing more then a media device and not a full fledged computer. The fact that Microcrap considers tablets computers only illustrates how dim witted that organization has become over the years. Finally my good sir I’m not the idiot you are. I woke up took a deep breath and smelled there was something rotten in the air a long ago. The fact you choose to willingly live with your head shoved up your ass proves you’re the worst kind of idiot there is which is a cool aid swilling idiot. Peace out little iSheep :)