Image via Wikipedia

The writing is on the wall, and I don’t know who has not yet recognised it, but the future of computers is with mobile, tablet pc’s. The days of the desktop pc’s are numbered. The tablet pc has been around for a while, but it was not since Apple, Inc. released the Apple iPad in April of this year, that the tablet pc really came of age. Apple figured out all that was missing from the existing tablets on the market and made a product that was more relevant to the needs of the general public. The Apple iPad was a breakthrough product riding on the popularity and features of the smart phone that has totally revolutionised the computer world.

Apple has everyone aspiring to own a tablet pc and there is little talk about owning a pc these days. Companies are lining up to challenge the iPad for its 95% share of the tablet pc market and there are several tablet pc’s, most running the Google Android operating system chip designs from ARM Holdings PLC; Microsoft’s answer is the Windows 7 tablets. The most versatile Apple iPad challenger is the Samsung Galaxy Tab built on the Android 2.2 OS. It has been called the first real contender to the iPad and is doing very well in sales, even though it has only been introduced to the United States in mid-November.

Nowhere else will this battle be evident than at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) scheduled for Las Vegas January 6-9, where Motorolla, Dell, Acer and even Samsung are expected to reveal products to challenge the iPad. Rumors abound of dual core processors, larger or smaller tablets and inclusion of features left out of the iPad by Apple, Inc. Best Buy announced in the third quarter that their sales of notebook computers were taking a hit from the sales of the Apple iPad and with the current tablet pc frenzy, this will ultimately translate into less pc sales and better tablet performance.

Faster processors for the tablet pc’s will mean more power for the tablets to complete tasks only recently reserved for the pc. The writing is on the wall. It is only a matter of time before the tablet pc becomes the de facto standard for computing and the pc will slowly make its way into the museum, a relic of the past; the victim of the mobile era.

The tablet pc market is expected to grow exponentially in 2011, with reports of Apple’s intention to sell over 40 million units. This has many tablet pc manufacturers scrambling to introduce products to capture a larger segment of the market. Along with notebook computers, the pc will also start to suffer a slow death as the world goes mobile and feed the new trend of having your pc everywhere you go.

With fast 3G and 4G mobile connection speeds plus the increased proliferation of wifi hotspots, having your pc stuck at your desk is just not the answer. Being able to connect to the internet whenever and wherever you want is the way to go, so soon we will be saying goodbye to the desktop personal computer.

You may find accessories for the Apple iPad in the iPad Accessories Guy Online Store.

Find More Apple Store Articles