Death of laptops greatly exaggerated, Best Buy boss insists
Not dead after all
Best Buy's boss has downplayed reports that iPads are eating half of all laptop sales.
Brian Dunn was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying that internal estimates revealed iPad sales "had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50%".
In a statement last week Dunn referred to Mark Twain's comment on hearing that his obituary had been published: "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
Dunn said: "The reports of the demise of these devices are grossly exaggerated. While they were fueled in part by a comment in the Wall Street Journal that was attributed to me, they are not an accurate depiction of what we're currently seeing. In fact, we see some shifts in consumption patterns, with tablet sales being an incremental opportunity." The company suggested that some would-be netbook buyers were choosing iPads instead, but did not provide numbers.
He said the firm believed a range of computers would continue to remain popular gifts for Christmas and so the store would continue to stock a range of products. ®
COMMENTS
until of course
your ipad/androidpad buyer realises that his shiny device does less than the uber cheap netbook sat on the coffeetable,
the "pad" devices are nice but just a little short of what they need to be,
I myself still like keyboards a great deal.
and in my business I have found people migrating back to desktop pc's from portable devices because desktops are cheaper and last longer.
there ya go , my whole tuppence! :)
iPad v laptop
I bought an iPad it does not replace my laptop it is an instant on coffee table device. If I need to to do some intensive stuff I reach for my laptop. It has replace my net book though which takes an age to boot and an age to do anything useful.
Laptop will live on iPad will replace most people net books
my two pennies worth
Target Market
The point of the iphone/android is a better communications device. MS and apple have reduced the PC from a true automation workhorse to a comminications device. I have a htc desire (love that thing) and work in the PC repair business. The phone has all my clients, what Im working on, billing functions, street maps of where my clients are, diagnostic tools (wireless networks). A PC could fill the role of the smart phone, but there are always compromises. The phone is instant on, fits in my pocket, can be an internet gateway/hotspot
I have been wanting to get myself a small laptop, but I can't see where I'll use it, anything that needs more, is normally an at the base repair. Netbooks had their chance, but they needed ugly add on cards to use 3G, and then you had to wait for the things to start/wake, and then they got bigger, and they never had a GPS. Finally the software as bad as it is on the smartphones is actually more usefully integrated than on the PC.
One button to see where the contact lives, call, sms or email them. Try that on a PC.
Misleading quote for sure
“iPad sales had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50%”
And first glance, that sounds like it's saying laptop sales are down by half. But I don't *think* that's what it really means. Isn't it actually equivalent to saying "No more than half of iPad buyers purchase it instead of a laptop"? It sure sounds alot less dramatic when you put it that way.
Why would he say it in the first place?
He doesn't deny he said it. He doesn't even say it was taken out of context. Basically he just says, "Yeah I said that but I wish I hadn't. I didn't mean to give out real numbers."
