PC Manufacturers Phasing Out of Tablet Sector in 2012?

Unnamed sources from the "upstream supply chain" believe that Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and other big-name PC vendors will likely begin to gradually phase out of the tablet sector in 2012.

According to the sources, these vendors don't have any kind of advantage over the likes of Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble due to their lack of strong content support and competitive hardware prices. As an example, Amazon is currently offering its Android-based Kindle Fire tablet for $199 whereas Barnes & Noble offers the Nook Simple Touch at $99.

Because of these competitive price points, "pure hardware players" are unlikely to profit from the tablet market in 2012. To make matters worse, it's believed that these devices will eventually be offered free given that Amazon and Barnes & Noble mainly profit from their content platforms.

Still, the sources also see troubled times for Apple. They point out that, while the iPad 2 still sees a strong demand, sales have been lower than those of the original iPad. This may indicate that enthusiasm for tablets on a whole may be quickly dwindling away.

Is this lack of enthusiasm based on tablet prices? As seen with HP's webOS-based TouchPad, consumers will scoop up a tablet left and right when the price is just right... or in this case, really cheap. Amazon estimates that it's $199 7-inch Kindle Fire will sell around 5 million units by the end of the year, or rather, in the first six weeks of its presence on the market. Apple's original iPad has sold 28 million units since its launch in early 2010.

"We believe the Fire's low $199 price point and broad distribution ... will help expand the market to consumers who previously may have been reluctant to purchase a higher-priced tablet," said JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth who believes Amazon will sell 20 million more units in 2012.

That said, is the overall price of each tablet the industry's bottleneck? Or is having a huge, feature-rich content service simply the key to launching a successful tablet? This may be what PC vendors have realized, and why they may phase out of the tablet sector next year. Still, perhaps Windows 8 will be their champion...

  • dark_lord69
    Seems like a smart move.
    This Tab Fad will end soon enough...
    Reply
  • Parsian
    i personally think, Windows 8 will merge tablet/laptops at one point (Asus Transform Prime with attachable keyboard or new ultra books with touch screen and maybe even detachable screen?) and the only other tablets left would be that of Amazon/Android due to large amount of content. Android will eat the phone market all for by itself...
    Reply
  • cloakster
    If Asus's Transformer Prime does very well then I don't see why they would need to pull out of the tablet sector.
    Reply
  • thesnappyfingers
    This Tab Fad will end soon enough...

    I don't see the tab fad "ending" persay anytime soon. The product is simply following a typical prodcut penentration curve.

    Yes there will be a reduction of choices, in terms of brands and suppliers. however, the product will continue to penetrate various market segments. There is plenty of demand and growth avalible for these tabs.
    Reply
  • thesnappyfingers
    I'm still not buyin one though...
    Reply
  • obiown77
    wasn't it not too long ago that big executives were shouting in the streets that the PC is dead and tablets would rule the world?

    Reply
  • chomlee
    Parsiani personally think, Windows 8 will merge tablet/laptops at one point (Asus Transform Prime with attachable keyboard or new ultra books with touch screen and maybe even detachable screen?)

    I agree. I think tablets are not necessarily a fad but are more a way of how we do things in the future. I think the transformer is ahead of its time and I think an operating system like windows 8 might make a device complete with being able to carry it arround or attach it to the keyboard.

    HP was stupid for releasing a product and then getting out of game when the product wasn't out long enough to catch on. WebOS was a great product, unfortunately, it wasn't marketed properly and failed.

    It all depends on what the bottom line of the cost for the tablets are. If the cost of a tablet is $250, sell it for $275 and people will be all over that and even though you didn't make money on the first batch, you have at least established a name for yourself in the market. Of course if the cost of these tablets are $375 then I can see why they have no choice but to sell them for $399 and how it wouldn't pay to stay in the marketplace.
    Reply
  • JeanLuc
    dark_lord69Seems like a smart move.This Tab Fad will end soon enough...
    I'd take a tablet over a netbook any day of the week. Tablets have there uses, causal gaming, causal internet browsing, you can hook them up to your TV, good for video calling, there's many uses.

    obiown77wasn't it not too long ago that big executives were shouting in the streets that the PC is dead and tablets would rule the world?
    Do you have source for that comment? I've never read or heard anyone say anything of the sort.
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    i liked hp's touchpad firesale for one reason: it showed people and the tablet makers that a really cheap tablet would definitely sell. imo it kinda set a price point where tablet prices should be set at. this is where amazon, b&n can win against competitors using their content library as leverage. tablet makers who fail to market stuff at that price would eventualy fail.
    after that people will eventually turn back to convertible laptop-tablet hybrids/laptops with touch-enabled detachable displays.
    Reply
  • GreaseMonkey_62
    9326941 said:
    I'd take a tablet over a netbook any day of the week. Tablets have there uses, causal gaming, causal internet browsing, you can hook them up to your TV, good for video calling, there's many uses.



    Do you have source for that comment? I've never read or heard anyone say anything of the sort.
    I don't know about shouting from the streets, but Steve Jobs was certainly touting that launguage and I noticed a few sites picked up on that line.
    Reply