Smartphones Outsell PCs in 2011 for First Time
FORBES -- "2011 marked the beginning of a major shift toward mobile computing. Smartphone shipments topped PCs for the first time ever last year, by 73 million units, according to figures published by research firm Canalys on Friday.
Last year a total of 487.7 million smartphones were shipped. Only 414.6 million PCs, which include tablet PCs, shipped. That’s a 62.7 percent increase on shipments of smartphones over 2010. It’s yet another important step on the road from isolated, search-oriented computing to a more social, mobile, and inter-connected web. App sales have also exploded, marking a major shift away from traditional software and games."
HT: Bob Wright
HT: Bob Wright
3 Comments:
It's even worse than it looks, as they strangely count tablets as PCs in the stats. Take those 63 million tablets out and smartphones won even more handily. In fact, the real revelation for me was that out of 900 million fairly powerful "computers" sold last year, desktop PCs only accounted for 11%. Laptops sell double that- I didn't know they now dominate the "PC" market- while netbooks sold about half as well as tablets. So the transition to mobile computing took place years ago, what's happening now is that the desktop PC is being obsoleted for most users, now that you can really go mobile with internet everywhere through 3G and 4G wireless networks.
I will note that I think you'll always have some kind of computer server in the house, but it's likely to be a powerful box under the TV in your living room, rather than a cabinet under a desk. It's interesting how Microsoft had enough foresight to bet on both of these markets early, with their Tablet PC and the Xbox, but completely whiffed on tablets and have only achieved marginal success with the Xbox.
"It's even worse than it looks, as they strangely count tablets as PCs in the stats. Take those 63 million tablets out and smartphones won even more handily."
This was not strange because tablets did not include phones until:
The "phoneblet".
The Galaxy Note, by Samsung, this tablet/phone hybrid, has over one million unit sales outside the U.S.
Buddy R Pacifico:
Nice, but it doesn't work with the 3G/4G bands as supported by more reasonable carriers like T-Mobile.
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