Is the era of laptop is over with Windows 8 tablets?

Laptops were considered to be a technological marvel that allows extended portability and smooth computing experience. Time has changed, technology has progressed to find out new things and now the forte of laptop is consistently being challenged by the modern generation and advanced tablets like iPad and others.

It is more evident if we look at some figures about the tablet shipments in the last couple of years. In the last quarter of 2011 about 26.5 million units of tablets were shipped which shows a vertical growth of around 186.2 percent if compared to the same quarter of the preceding year (source: Canalys Estimates). However if we consider the year-to-year growth in the tablet shipment the figures are astonishing. Around 63.2 million tablets were shipped in 2011 which shows a steep growth of around 274.2 percent if compared to the 2010. The findings of NPD DisplaySearch reveal that tablets are progressing rapidly to overtake laptops as early as 2016. According to a survey, around half of the American population believes that laptops will become a thing of the past in the next five years or so.

Given the above mentioned statistics, lets examine in detail whether laptops are really facing an extinction threat because of tablets. Look at the findings of one more survey conducted by the polling company, Poll Position. In this survey around 1155 voters were registered out of which 48 percent of the voters believed that the tablets will replace laptops in the next 3-4 years. However, around 35 percent of the respondent believed that devices like Apple’s iPad or Amazon’s Kindlefire is yet not enough and competent to replace notebooks in next few years.

However, it is a dominant view that young people are more inclined towards tablets but in the above discussed survey something contrary came out. It was found that older people and couples were more attracted and possessive towards their tablets. People aged between 18-29 doubted that tablets will be able to replace laptops in the next few years.

DisplaySearch in its findings revealed that the margin with which iPad is today dominating the market is going to become slimmer in the next five years. According to researchers, the present 72.1% share of Apple (2012) may slip to 50.9 percent in 2017. This loss may become an opportunity for Android-run devices which is expected to improve its market share in years to come. Its present 22.5% is expected to rebound upto 50.9% in 2017. The recent Windows 8 is expected to cause a furor in the tablet market and can lift up the number of units shipped to a new and improved level.

After the onset of iPad, the laptop industry has been continuously facing challenges. It is becoming weak with every passing year. Tablets are being chosen by more and more people because of the high portability and cost efficiency. Moreover, they find tablets capable of performing almost all the tasks that a laptop can do. This is becoming a major factor in the loss of laptop’s popularity. Your tablet can easily fulfill your requirement if you want to browse the net, type in some documents, get connected to the e-mail all the time, listen to music, watch movie or play game. For all such tasks you are not at all required to carry your 6-pounds heavy laptop.

Irrespective of the platform used with the tablet the base of tablet users is all set to grow with time. As tablets are considered close to a laptop in terms of features and portability therefore, the segment of laptops is most affected with increasing tablet users.

The facts and statistics signify that the popularity and adoption of tablets are soaring fast and may replace laptops and notebooks in the next few years. The way users are responding to tablets it looks a fair possibility that the tablets may surpass the number of laptops by 2017 or even before.