“Late yesterday, I contacted Gartner and IDC, which both measure global PC shipments,” Wilcox writes. “But only Gartner responded to my question about how iPad is classified. It is clear from preliminary second quarter PC shipment data that neither analyst firm calculated iPad with PC shipments (Gartner explicitly explained so in its press release: ‘Gartner’s PC group does not track media tablet sales in this PC shipment data, so iPad sales are not included in these results.’) A Gartner spokesperson responded to my question about classification: ‘We don’t have data for this category yet. We hope to have some stats for this category at some time shortly.’”
Wilcox writes, “But what category is that? Media tablets? Windows tablets have been shipping for years, then there are slate netbooks. Don’t these devices count as PCs? If so, then why not iPad? Apple’s tablet has a microprocessor, graphics processor and storage disk, runs an operating system and third-party applications and connects to the Internet. That sure sounds like a personal computer to me. There’s a touch keypad, or the user can attach a physical keyboard by Bluetooth. If PC classification requires a mouse, well, iPad doesn’t have one of those. But should no mouse make iPad no PC?”
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve been using portable Macs for well over a decade and none of them ever had a mouse. Gartner, IDC, and all the rest have been counting them as “PCs” all along.
Wilcox writes, “In several previous blogs, I’ve asserted that iPad is the cheapest Mac that anyone can buy. But should iPad be counted as a PC? Netbooks are PCs, and ASUS recently reduced netbook shipments because of iPad competition. Apple’s tablet certainly competes with PCs. Should it be counted as one?”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you’re going to count iPad, what about iPod touch and iPhone? Aren’t they “personal computers,” too?
Apple’s “iPhone” isn’t really a phone at all. It’s really a small touchscreen Mac OS X computer, a Mac nano tablet, if you will. Here’s how misnamed the iPhone is: Some people are complaining that Jobs didn’t spend enough time on the Mac in his keynote! Folks, iPhone is not only a Mac, it’s the most radical new Mac in years! What’s to stop Apple from making a 12-inch (and larger, and smaller) one of these days (use the headset for the phone, please) and calling it a Mac tablet?
the main thing about the “iPhone” is that it’s really a pocket Mac. It has email, SMS, full-featured Web browsing, and much more. But, beyond that, it is a platform that’s just sitting there waiting for Apple to sell software for it. Just imagine games with the large multi-touch display and the built-in accelerometer! Imagine all of the other software possibilities, too.
What about Mac OS X market share? Each iPhone is technically a Mac, right? If so, Apple will at least double their Mac shipments in the first year alone. Let’s hope IDC and Gartner count them all! – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, January 09, 2007
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