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| From Altair to iPad: 35 years of personal computer market share |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-08-14 12:13:27 |
| "Back in 2005, we charted 30 years of personal computer market share to show graphically how the industry had developed, who succeeded and when, and how some iconic names eventually faded away completely. With the rise of whole new classes of 'personal computers' - tablets and smartphones - it's worth updating all the numbers once more. And when we do so, we see something surprising: the adoption rates for our beloved mobile devices absolutely blow away the last few decades of desktop computer growth. People are adopting new technology faster than ever before." BeOS not mentioned. Would not read again. 2/10. |
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| Comment by Treza |
| By Treza on 2012-08-14 13:20:27 |
|
The first true "personal computer" was the Altair No, it was the "Micral", try again ;-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mic... |
 - Score: 3 |
| History will repeat itself. |
| By moondevil on 2012-08-14 13:24:44 |
|
Nice read, but I disagree with the conclusion. I believe the iDevices will eventually follow the footsteps of their bigger brothers in what concerns market share. |
| - Score: 5 |
| Comment by nutt |
| By nutt on 2012-08-14 14:23:11 |
| The article is confusing (not to mention that some of the diagrams are really hard to read, like the second one which has 7 lines but only 5 captions...). The first decades they look at market shares of different hardwares, but then they suddenly switch to looking at software instead when they go to smartphones and tablets. It would be odd to have BeOS in the first half, but they could have listed the BeBox (although I don't know if it ever sold in any significant numbers). |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE: Comment by nutt |
| By Thom_Holwerda on 2012-08-14 14:54:25 |
|
The BeOS thing was a joke. BeOS is totally irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. They sold only a few thousands BeBoxen, iirc. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Smart phones are personal computers now? |
| By leech on 2012-08-14 15:53:36 |
|
So this article goes from talking about personal computers to... smart phones and tablets. Smart phones (as even the article says) are basically PDAs with phone functionality. Sure they run 'applications' but you still wouldn't use your smart phone for the majority of generic computing tasks (writing an essay for example). Sure you COULD, I have libreoffice running on my Nokia N9, but I still wouldn't put it in the same class as my Amiga 4000 or my Atari Mega STe. Or even my generic 8 Core PC. Overall, a rather retarded article. |
| - Score: 0 |
| RE: Comment by Treza |
| By MOS6510 on 2012-08-14 16:48:41 |
|
"The front panel console was optional, offering customers the option of designing their own console to match a particular application" *has flashes of cheap Nokia candybar phones with replaceable front* |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Smart phones are personal computers now? |
| By franksands on 2012-08-14 17:41:28 |
| Things are changing. If the iPad taught us anything is that the majority of people does not want a generic purpose computer. They want a computer that works like a TV: turn on, watch a couple channels and turn off. I really think the numbers of PCs as we see today (desktops and laptops) will become niche markets, and will only be used in places where it's still needed, like in any creative company. In the homes of most people we should find tablets or smart TVs or any other media device. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[2]: Comment by Treza |
| By CapEnt on 2012-08-14 17:48:02 |
| So, the case mod community also began with Micral? |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Comment by Treza |
| By tupp on 2012-08-14 18:23:02 |
|
> The first true "personal computer" was the Altair No, it was the "Micral", try again ;-) Try again. The Heathkit EC-1 was probably the first "personal" computer when it appeared in 1959 or 1960, in the Heathkit consumer catalog: http://www.old-computers.com/mus... Actually, there were other less sophisticated computers sold to the public earlier in the 1950s |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[2]: Smart phones are personal computers now? |
| By Sodki on 2012-08-14 18:40:32 |
|
> Things are changing. If the iPad taught us anything is that the majority of people does not want a generic purpose computer. They want a computer that works like a TV: turn on, watch a couple channels and turn off. I really think the numbers of PCs as we see today (desktops and laptops) will become niche markets, and will only be used in places where it's still needed, like in any creative company. In the homes of most people we should find tablets or smart TVs or any other media device. I disagree with this view. Tablets and smartphones are just a new consumer medium and will not replace desktops nor laptops at large, simply because each device is different. People buy tablets in addition to their desktop/laptop. Do you know anyone with a tablet that doesn't own a desktop and/or a laptop? Because where I'm standing most of the tablet owners have a desktop, a laptop, a smartphone AND a tablet, plus the desktop and/or a laptop at work. |
| - Score: 2 |
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