> it's like saying that the microwave will kill off the oven
Great analogy. Unless tablets grow in terms of connectable peripherals, I can't imagine secretaries, programmers, accountants, or anybody else spend 8 hours staring down their desk on a 7" screen poking fingers at a virtual keyboard.
Can't all modern Android tablets connect to all modern peripherals? The first one to ever exist (Xoom) can connect to a display, wireless keyboard, and can act as a USB host to connect to arbitrary USB devices. I imagine the most recent tablets are far more advanced in that area already.
Connecting to peripherals is irrelevant in the tablet takeover. In fact, tablets are irrelevant in the tablet takeover. What's going to happen is that the tablet OS and app ecosystem will reign while the form factor becomes whatever is convenient for the task at hand.
Media consumption? Tablet. Work? Unknown form factor, but with correct input/output attached and running the same software as the media tablet.
"Can't all modern Android tablets connect to all modern peripherals? The first one to ever exist (Xoom) can connect to a display, wireless keyboard, and can act as a USB host to connect to arbitrary USB devices. I imagine the most recent tablets are far more advanced in that area already."
Things is, what platform is going to be the best at switching modes between desktop and tablet, with full support for multiple monitors, printing, VPN etc, stuff business will like? Windows 8.
I'm not going to lie--if I could get a job where I flopped out on beanbags and did all my work on a tablet, that'd be pretty nifty. I just don't see using a tablet for content creation and having to sit at a normal desk.
Good point. Perhaps the problem is the work station and not the device itself. Still, the way tablets work now, they have to be at a fairly low angle, or one's hands will quickly get tired. That coupled with lack of real world applications doesn't seem to align very well with tablet's possible ubiquitous future.
Maybe it's better the way it is. Maybe having a machine for "work" and machine for "play" is how we keep things intuitive, modular, and clean.
Great analogy. Unless tablets grow in terms of connectable peripherals, I can't imagine secretaries, programmers, accountants, or anybody else spend 8 hours staring down their desk on a 7" screen poking fingers at a virtual keyboard.