Well, since it is 2010, you could say I am starting out on a “tabula rasa” or “blank slate,” which I think is a very fitting for a new start to my blog this year.
Not to mention that today was the day that HP and Microsoft today the HP Tablet at Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The news is abuzz, and some say this is the Year of the Tablet (or possibly the year of 3D technologies) [side note: my company is going to love it when that happens!]
I started to try and remember what year it was last year, and I don’t mean that it’s now 2010 and last year was 2009. I mean that what electronics device was the device that caught everybody’s attention?
Was it the Kindle? Or maybe it was the Netbook. A quick look at Google Trends confirmed it: 2008 was the year of the eBook aka Kindle (or end of 2007) and 2009 was the year of the Netbook. And of course there was the iPhone, which is now so common place that I could not locate The Year of the iPhone.
A Year in Review
So, since January is a time to review the previous year and look forward to the upcoming year, I wanted to say something about consumer hardware device convergence. In the Year of the Netbook, there was a slow progression, and this is just based on my experience of having read the news about it. People were first excited by the low price, excited by ASUS’s strong entry and leadership in the market, then confused by the difference between a Netbook and the regular computer (or at least that was my experience), then Dell and other companies started to worry Netbooks would eat up margin.
All of this chatter just suggested that electronics are really moving towards a convergence of devices where it is all going to merge into one. You may have an ebook reader, a computer and a smartphone, but you might at some point find yourself with just a laptop that is also a eBook reader and a computer. And, if you really wanted to, you could probably Skype on it.
Tech Consumers Drive Convergence…and the Market Taught Them to Ask for It
While this is nothing new, the real gem is that consumer attitudes are being shaped by these new technologies. Slowly, we start to expect certain things in a device as they become more mainstream, i.e. a touch screen, mobility, ability to multitask…not to mention, that all of this is largely driven by brand influence and brand equity. It’s the big players such as Apple, HP, Intel, and possibly Nvidia who are able to help declare the Year of the Tablet.
Will China Lead Market Innovation Instead of Drive It?
On a different front, China is starting to come into its own. Up until now, it’s been the supplier backstage that has helped make innovation happen. And China is starting to figure out what brand equity is supposed to mean, which suggests that there will be a year soon where it will be the Year of Innovation Led By China (or something to that effect).
What does your gut tell you will be telling of 2010? Or 2011?
Hi, just caught this post from almost a month ago… Yeah, looks like 2010 WILL be the year of the tablet. Apple announced the iPad this week, and I’m sure many other computer makers will follow the lead, including the Dells, HPs, Lenovo, Acer… all will get on the bandwagon and try to push products on their own. Hopefully they’ll have real operating systems that can handle more than one app at a time!
I’ve found your site on yahoo by mistake but I’m glad i did .