That’s not my line up there in the title, it belongs to Business Insider, who published this astounding graph on their site yesterday.
In my line of work, I’m well used to looking at graphs and attempting to observe subtle differences and trends within the data.
This isn’t one of them though, is it?
And while the blue Android line is rising, the green BB is in freefall, which should come as no surprise to anyone. (Least of all anyone who has talked to my wife).
definitely no surprise since you are not constrained to the handset and therefore it’s price. Although the more expensive ones are better and easier to use. I have a LG Optimus One with Android 2.2, very cool. a bit slow and small for typing, but very cool none the less – esp for it’s price
Philip Gibb > I’m on the SE Xperia X10 and I love it. It’s definitely made me want an Android tablet.
I know almost nothing about this stuff, but I do have a question.
I seem to recall talk a while back that Android might develop into a potential operating system for all computers, rather than just the hand held variety. Does this mean that the runaway success of Android on clever mobiles, especially compared to Microsoft (the other huge loser here according to the graph), could eventually lead to Android conquering the old desktop, and giving Microsoft a huge bollocking there also?
Google have an operating system out, and you can buy notebooks that run it (it’s called Google Chrome OS). I think that Chrome will make inroads, yes, but slowly and not much for the foreseeable future. This is because it’s built almost entirely for online applications. No (or little) physical storage on the laptop/desktop itself, but rather working from Google Docs, Picasa, Google Music and the like.
Fine if you’re somewhere with super-fast and reliable Internet – but many users will still want the security of having their files and programs on a physical media component, on their computer. Plus, for the paranoid, many might not want to entrust everything to the cloud.
I don’t think so. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have crafted for themselves an area that fits in and compliments the desktop computer, laptop, TV, books, magazines and other media/platforms.
Sure, for some people (ie your grandmother) the iPad might replace the need for a desktop or laptop computer. It however doesn’t replace my desktop or laptop for the bulk of work that I do, I assume this is the case for many people. It does however extend the reach of computing for many industried, so for example, a doctor can now view and capture data at the patient’s bed side.
I suspect Microsoft and Apple still continue to see growth year after year even though smartphones and tablets are appearing everywhere. It does perhaps take away the power that Microsoft had over the experience as everything is ‘cloud’ or internet service based.
So not instead of us being shackled to Outlook, we can use our Gmail on our phones, tablets and computers. Just as the laptop didn’t replace the desktop, these mobile devices won’t replace our desktops and laptops.
They might change the way we work on them (ie using the browser for more and more) but it won’t replace them completely.
If any thing I think these devices will be a stepping-stone for people in our country, for example many young people living in the townships might not own a computer but they do have email addresses and can and do browse the web.
This will continue to empower them to at some point they’ll own a desktop or laptop.
I’m glad for Androir but if you buy one you still wouldn’t have an iPhone.
Rashiq Fataar > Yet another bonus. Well spotted.
Rashiq, I believe that’s the point of buying one.
@ZA5, the laptop may not have replaced the desktop, but it sure did make a dent in it’s market. Here where I work for instance, 5 years ago everyone worked on a desktop. Now, the fast growing minority (and it’s getting close to being the majority) work on laptops plugged into docking stations (it’s just easier to manage your peripherals that way).
And we’re no small two bit enterprise either, so I’d wager that in most admin environments a similar trend is being established, especially where portability may occasionally be required.