Nexus 7 and Android Convertibles Drive Massive Asus Profit 232
rtfa-troll writes "The collapse of the PC market has had much discussion on Slashdot with a common opinion that, now that Apple is the largest personal computer manufacturer, a loss of sales combined with Apple's iPad will completely eliminate most of them. Now Asustek's most recent results show that there may be a way out for those that can move away from their standard markets. Concentrating on Android tablet devices, the Google Nexus 7, with a help from ASUS transformer tablets has driven the company to massive $230 million profits. Asus gross revenue also climbed 9 percent to around $3.8 billion. We have discussed related issues recently: Where companies like HTC have lost their focus on open Android devices and suffered from devastating collapses, ASUS has managed to differentiate it's tablets by providing the most open tablet experience possible via with Google's Nexus program and branding."
economics 101 (Score:5, Insightful)
Build stuff people want to buy, make a profit
Re:economics 101 (Score:4, Insightful)
Especially if you can build at a profit something the contractor is willing to sell at a loss. That's a great market.
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Telle that to Nokia's former Maemo bunch.
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2 - Build Nexus 6
3 - Profit
4 - Build huge flat topped pyramid in the middle of Los Angeles.
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Desktop Android (Score:5, Interesting)
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Well, if you take a look, you'll find plenty of Android netbooks to buy.
They aren't selling like water, but they are selling. That 30% figure is well within reason, but it will take some time to achieve. Android is still fringe.
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What the guy said was "Android Desktop" and if taken literally, I think he's got a point. The smartphone and tablet boom has shown (to me at least) that a) people are actually OK with using new UIs; b) people dislike the complexity that comes with normal PCs and will accept some compromise.
If people are willing to use an ugly keyboard add-on with their iPad; if they are OK with web-based office applications; if they are OK with beta-quality apps and adverts on their screen... I think some would be fine with
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Nexus 7 has no HDMI out (Score:2)
It wasn't until Jelly Bean [...] that Google finally figured out how to make a decent tablet UI
Jelly Bean was first available on the Nexus 7.
If Android had a decent desktop UI, then wouldn't it be more convenient for most people to use their phones as a convergant device, using it as a phone on the road, and docking it with a monitor, pointing device, and keyboard when they're somewhere where portability isn't a requirement?
I can see docking a Nexus 7, the flagship device introducing what you call the first decent Android tablet UI, with a Bluetooth keyboard. But ASUS and Google left a monitor output off the Nexus 7, and what sort of pointing device would you recommend using?
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It would have to be marketed and priced correctly. I'm thinking in the 300-500 dollar price range, with a 20" display of decent resolution, wireless keyboard and mouse, and possibly something akin to a Wii infrared controller. Then they'd basically have to market it like Apple did the iMac all those years ago when it was initially offered.
For maybe $250, if they were to do the same thing but as a dock for Android phones of 4.0 or greater release, I'd buy one.
The Transformer has done much what you say, but t
Re:Desktop Android (Score:4, Insightful)
because i don't do anything very complex
As many people don't do with their laptops. There's a reason the GP didn't say 100% of laptop sales in his post. You're obviously not one of the 30%
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Such as?
I really only use it for ssh and games, but what is missing exactly?
And rightly so (Score:4, Insightful)
ASUS makes darned fine tablets. (Score:5, Informative)
I adore my TF101. It was killer gear when I bought it last summer and it still is. It gets used by somebody in the house every single day without fail, usually for hours. My grandson (4) takes pictures and videos with it when he's done playing Minecraft and I watch some of them when I have time. My youngest (6) uses it to video chat me up on oovoo. I take it on trips to watch mpeg4's on the plane and Netflix in the hotel. I use it for documentation on the fly, training materials and reference works. I've used it to elevator pitch and present 1080p slideshows in conference rooms. With it and Citrix, various remote desktop apps and the like I can use it to do anything a PC or server can do.
I'm in the biz so I have a house full of IT gear. 4 tablets, 6 servers, a dozen PCs, and more "smart" devices than anybody needs. These outnumber the humans at least 5 to one. The only tech thing that sees more use in my house than this ASUS tablet is the Comcast router that delivers the Internet to all the rest.
The only problem I have with this device is fighting for control of it. Money well spent.
At $200 for the 16GB Nexus 7 tablet from ASUS, there is a good chance there will be more than one of these under my tree on Christmas morning.
Don't call me an Apple hater. My review of the iPads I received on launch day is right there in my /. journal and none could call it anything but "effusive". But Apple's cathedral isn't for me when I can get stuff like this and the Nexus 10 instead.
Recommended.
Openness? I do not think so (Score:4, Informative)
I am an android user. Used to have a LG-P500, and then got a Galaxy note. My brother owns a Note Tablet(10")
I am a big supported of android, but I do not think the platform is really open.
For example, I recently bought a camera. I went to the merchant site, got it shipped to somebody in USA, and he will bring it to India.
However, if I want to do the same with Nexus 10, I cannot. Google simply says, sorry, devices not enabled in google play in your country.
So I would have to request the person in US to use their credit card to buy, if I want this device.
Software openness and app ecosystem is good, but I somehow do not like the way Google is selling this stuff.
Why not let it be like consumer electronics with multiple points of sale. Heck, google could sell it to anybody in the world, with that person bearing shipping charges.
I can do that with amazon, why not google
And guess what, rumour has it that these devices won't even be launched in India officially(just like the original Nexus were never launched here).
Re:Openness? I do not think so (Score:5, Interesting)
A lot of that has to do with legal liabilities that need to be sorted out. For example, what are the consequences of providing secure content delivery? In some countries, encryption is illegal, so they may have to make massive re-designs, and do other R&D, which may cost a lot. Along with that, they'll have to figure out if they'll even get a return on investment. Also they may face a public relations backlash for conforming to what the west considers to be oppressive laws.
I imagine that in many cases, they'll simply eat a loss, which is why they'll never market it there. I don't know about India in particular, but I imagine that if there was money to be made there, they would do so.
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No, there are no restrictions in India. Most Android phones make it here(Samsung,LG,Garmin,Dell.....) But nexus never does. I think they do not want to cannibalize Samsung S series which are the largest selling phones in India in the high end market. So it has nothing to do with law, its just equivalent to using a walled garden.
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Using isn't that big of an issue, if you get caught, it's your ass.
The problem is when a company sells it. Especially when that company is large enough that everyone involve will see dollar signs and possibly an opportunity to take a cut every time they mention the name.
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How does the vendor's storefront have anything to do with the openness of their product?
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What does that have to do with openness?
Cannot you not do a git pull from India?
Google play is not open, nor anything more than one of many android markets.
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Mobiles phones are not banned in India. You can buy cell phones from Amazon if you want, but you have to pay customs and shipping.
I find it quite amusing that people are so eager to defend google!
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I find it quite amusing that people are so eager to defend google!
spend more than a few weeks here and it becomes obvious that as long as google 'gives away' shiny software apps and other toys, people will defend them to the end of the earth.
usually its the younger crowd who was brought up from early years to believe in the idea that privacy_is_dead. they bought this BS hook line and sinker and they'll tell the big G anything it wants to know. they could care less! throw caution to the wind.
older guys,
I still want a quality, cheap, powerful PC (Score:2, Interesting)
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Did I just
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You have no idea...
I bought my first PC in 1986 for 1500 UK pounds. At the time was almost a third of my annual pre-tax salary so I needed a loan to buy it. I used it to hone my coding skills and my salary increased five fold by 1990.
PC's have come down massively in the last few years, and continue to improve in performance. Don't know so much about reliability and sturdiness though. My first PC weighed a ton and would have survived a nuclear attack.
Two ways you can get what you want. Either get a better pa
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How low is your salary? For one week of middle of the road USA salary you can get a really nice PC.
Largest personal computer manufacture? (Score:5, Informative)
I have to question the original post statement,
now that Apple is the largest personal computer manufacturer
I can only assume you are referring to market capitalization, and not actual computers sold.
As far as computers sold, it would be (third quarter 2012):
Worldwide:
Lenovo Group Ltd., 13.8 million shipped worldwide, 15.7 percent share
Hewlett-Packard Co., 13.6 million shipped, 15.5 percent
Dell Inc., 9.2 million, 10.5 percent
Acer Group, 8.6 million, 9.9 percent
AsusTek Computer Inc., 6.4 million, 7.3 percent
Others, 36.0 million, 41.1 percent.
Total: 87.5 million
United States:
Hewlett-Packard Co., 4.1 million shipped in U.S., 27.0 percent share
Dell Inc., 3.3 million, 21.4 percent
Apple Inc., 2.1 million, 13.6 percent
Lenovo Group Ltd., 1.4 million, 8.9 percent
Acer Group, 989,725, 6.5 percent.
Toshiba, 989,600, 6.5 percent
Others, 2.5 million, 16.2 percent.
Total: 15.3 million
Source: Gartner
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You can count them as shipped laptops/desktops, but a laptop for example is essentially the same as a tablet. The difference is that for a tablet a keyboard etc are accessories, whereas in laptops they are built in. The same goes with mobile phones. They are all personal computers, which today are packed with more power and features than the PC's of the past. The field is being miniaturized and diversified, as the concept of personal computer detaches from the rigid paradigm and moves towards the network mi
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...a laptop for example is essentially the same as a tablet except that a laptop can run the software businesses have spent the last 30 years developing, and the tablet can't
ftfy
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...a laptop for example is essentially the same as a tablet except that a laptop can run the software businesses have spent the last 30 years developing, and the tablet can't
don't worry, Microsoft is fucking things up again in Windows 8 to break a bunch of that stuff, so that they can sell the users more shit, so that doesn't differentiate a tablet from a PC.
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fair enough
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The field is inevitably changing. The number of different devices is hugely different than 30 years ago, and the software/hardware will adapt. Besides you can run the same software via virtualization. It's entirely possible to use Windows for example with an iPad today.
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Everyone knows its possible, but most people realize its not practical. Try telling the average office worker with two 24 inch monitors, a full keyboard and a mouse on their desk that now they'll be using a remote windows session on a 10 inch screen. See how that goes over.
As far as "the software will adapt".... I suspect you haven't actually seen the software most businesses run on. Even in places where adapting to a tablet is possible, it is an expense that has to be justified.
Average IT guy to phb:
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Your story makes it sound like the PHB is a reasonable guy. Here is a more realistic story:
PHB: We need to add features X, Y and Z to our legacy inventory system
IT guy: The code is a giant pile of garbage, it would be cheaper and faster to rewrite the whole thing.
PHB: No
IT guy: But we could update it to support modern devices.
PHB: No
IT guy: But it would be less expensive to maintain in the long run.
PHB: Why do we care?
Re:Largest personal computer manufacture? (Score:4, Insightful)
PHB: We need to add features X, Y and Z to our legacy inventory system
IT guy: The code is a giant pile of garbage, it would be cheaper and faster to rewrite the whole thing.
PHB: Ok, give it a try
(Six months pass)
PHB: How's the new inventory control system?
IT Guy: Going great- we just need some more time to get it functional
(Six months pass)
PHB: How's the new inventory control system? We really could use it
IT Guy: Almost done. We just need to make sure it supports the latest standards
(Six months pass)
PHB: Need that inventory control system guys...
IT Guy: Well, the standards have been in a bit of flux and when you're trying to put out really modern code you need to deal with that. By the way, we need a lot beefier server to handle the load, ok? It's a bit slow right now
(Six months pass)
PHB: Um, hello?
IT Guy: Really, it's almost done. It's going to be amazing! We're in the process of rearchtecting the main DB module to support Foobar 2.6 right now since Foobar 2.5 wasn't quite ready for prime time.
(Six months pass)
PHB: Look guys, we have to have this *now*. The legacy code can't run much longer without maintenance.
IT Guy: Well, here's my notice- I found a great new job programming cool Ruby code with a startup. I've put some comments in the code that should let you figure out what it does. It should build fine provided you only use the exact environment I specify and the front end works on a beta version of Chrome I downloaded. Go ahead and ship!
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This is why IT departments should not be in the business of writing software, and big projects actually need project managers.
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If that laptop's running OSX, then no. That laptop can't be running software that hasn't been in constant development for 30 years.
OR
If it was successfully ported to OSX using Cocoa, then porting it to Cocoa Touch for iOS would be trivial and using a corporate iOS deployment server means you can deploy Touch versions of that software.
What's your point?
People don't do "real work" on tablets? Other than writing, spreadsheets, SSH, art, music, video and maybe some photography, sure. no one uses tablets for "
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. . . and increasingly in use as point of sale and payment terminals, in medical clinics (clipboard/medical chart/drug reference/etc.), construction sites, business networking events, and so on. Aside from all those tasks, no one uses a tablet for real work. Oh, and aside from vehicle diagnostics, DJing, hmm, wait a sec. Maybe people do use
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Whatever it is, I'm completely sure the GP wasn't refering to computers manufactured, since Apple doesn't manufacture computers. What, by the way, is a strange feature for the "largest personal computer manufacturer"...
Re:Largest personal computer manufacture? (Score:5, Interesting)
Sorry, an article from appleinsider.com full of quotes from Tim Cook (and only Tim Cook, not a single outside analyst) doesn't hold much merit. It's marketing, not fact or news.
As for your other "source", it doesn't support your claims at all.
> Coulling believes that tablets will continue to pressure PC and notebook sales "in the short term,"
How exactly does an analyst predicting short term pressure on the PC market translate into the iPad eliminating the PC market? Where do you people come up with this crap?
Also interesting that both of your sources are from 10 months ago. Maybe that's because more recent numbers show a decline in iPad sales?
http://www.unwiredview.com/2012/10/26/apple-reports-q3-2012-results-iphone-sales-up-ipad-sales-down/ [unwiredview.com]
Collapse? (Score:2)
rtfa-troll writes
Indeed.
Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
The collapse of the PC market has had much discussion on Slashdot with a common opinion that, now that Apple is the largest personal computer manufacturer, a loss of sales combined with Apple's iPad will completely eliminate most of them.
The PC Market was collapsing? Apple is now the biggest PC manufacturer? We will all now use iPads instead a Desktop-PC? ... ... ... WHAT THE...
"As PC sales collapse" (Score:5, Informative)
All aboard the hyperbole bus!
Still 87.5 million PCs [engadget.com] ( desktops and laptops ) shipped worldwide in Q3 2012. Yes, MILLIONS.
Some vendors saw a decline of 10% year-on-year. Painful, but that's not a collapse.
In comparison in Q3 2012 Apple shipped 17 million iPads.
So can we please stop saying that tablets have destroyed the PC market?
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87.5 million PCs shipped worldwide. Ignoring for a moment how many of those PCs will end up landfilled or surplused without actually being installed, there's also the issue that you're comparing all PCs sold worldwide with tablets sold by one company.
I do agree with you that tablets haven't yet destroyed the PC market. And I don't really think they will ever destroy it. I am, however, convinced that tablets will surpass desktops.
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Those are way less than the amount of tablets that will be in a landfill two years from now.
That's even the reason the PC market is "colapsing", PCs aren't going to a landfill anymore untill they stop working.
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That's even the reason the PC market is "colapsing", PCs aren't going to a landfill anymore untill they stop working.
Nor are tablets or similar handhelds. They just get passed on to someone else until something fails/is destroyed, usually a button or jack or the display. They're still useful to someone even if they're the oldest examples of the new-era stuff (e.g. Android or iOS, not WinCE.) My only tablet is a hacked-up nook simple touch and it's remarkable how useful it actually is as a computing platform, so long as you don't expect to play Angry Birds on it. Actually, you can play Angry Birds on it, but I only loaded
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Who the fuck wrote this summary (Score:5, Insightful)
"...a common opinion that, now that Apple is the largest personal computer manufacturer, a loss of sales combined with Apple's iPad will completely eliminate most of them."
How on earth can someone describe the opinion that Apple's tablet is going to "completely eliminate" most PC manufacturers as "common"? (!?!)
Only someone who ignores reality completely could come to such a misguided conclusion... let me guess.. big Apple fan?
News flash: nearly 90 million PCs sold in Q3. 8 times the number of tablets sold. The PC is already commonplace and suffers from it's own success in that they have become so reliable and so capable that upgrades and replacements just aren't that common. The tablet is brand new and new models with compelling improvements come out every few months. Yet still we see massively more PCs sold than tablets.
A single manufacturer of tablets is going to completely eliminate the PC industry?
Sorry, no.
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Given that you feel I have poor reading comprehension skills one would think you'd be a little more specific if you actually want me to understand wtf you are on about.
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Wait. Before we go any further...
We're talking about Earth, right?
Collapse? (Score:2)
Really? The PC market has collapsed? They haven't started handing out iPads at work, and I don't know of a store that will sell you microsoft office to load on your iPad. At worst, I would call it a "Gradual tapering off of the incredible growth over the last twenty five years". iPad growth has exploded, but I have yet to see any numbers that show PCs actually decline in double digit numbers. The worst I've seen has been 4% year over year... which is about how the economy is doing depending on how you look
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Totally agree. PCs have matured enormously in the past 10 years. They have hit a sort of plateau in terms of power and reliability. Combine less compelling reasons to replace/upgrade than we've seen in recent history with the current economy and a slight decline actually looks pretty good.
Collapse for the muggles... (Score:2)
I still use laptops and desktops heavily. But I actually USE a computer unlike 99% of the people out there. I write software for multiple platforms, I also edit professional video and have a 8 core monster for rendering. but then I used to have a power-mac and a stack of 12 hacked AppleTV-1's running OSX as a Final cut render farm. I still hate that apple turned final cut into iMovie....
Anyways, there will ALWAYS be a market for pc's and high end laptops. I just wish that high end operating systems
A naming mistake. (Score:2)
Google really screwed up with the naming of their devices.
For now, people will remember the differences between the Nexus 4 and 7. A year from now, I doubt it.
Better naming would be:
Nexus Phone 2
Nexus Pad 3
Nexus Sound 1
Or sync the numbers and say 'screw it' to the slashdotters who complain about skipping numbers:
Nexus Phone 3
Nexus Pad 3
Nexus Sound 3
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Google really screwed up with the naming of their devices.
For now, people will remember the differences between the Nexus 4 and 7. A year from now, I doubt it.
Better naming would be:
Nexus Phone 2
Nexus Pad 3
Nexus Sound 1
Or sync the numbers and say 'screw it' to the slashdotters who complain about skipping numbers:
Nexus Phone 3
Nexus Pad 3
Nexus Sound 3
I think you have missed the "winds of change". The buzzword was "platforms" now its "ecosystems". Apple have been playing the ecosystem card for a long time..."just works" means only with other Apple products. Desperate Microsoft use the word all the time today...and don't really have one yet. Google do..its android, the Nexus *brand* just shows they have a device at every "screen size" [Yeah they say that too].
Typical journalist prophecy stuff. (Score:2)
People are aware that if they make outrageous claims that they will be hailed as a genius if they succeed, and the claims will be forgotten if they are wrong. At worst the claim will show up in some "Look at those silly guys from 50 years ago..." columns.
Forgetting of course the shared memory of the Internet. In 10 years or 1 year or next week we can trot out their giant article on the "End of the PC", and point and laugh. Now, lots of people hooking on to the same absurd claim will not make it true, and wi
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Re:Gross revenue? (Score:5, Informative)
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Pffft... with that, Apple could barely construct and equip a nuclear aircraft carrier!
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Pffft... with that, Apple could barely construct and equip a nuclear aircraft carrier!
Oh yeah, you're right, and after their troll legal abuse strategy fails that's exactly what Apple will need to stop Android. Tim better start saving up.
Re:Innovation (Score:5, Insightful)
a 'great' era to get all excited about.. or not.
1. they're all locked down in some way compared with the existing x86 desktop.
2. they're simplified to the point of uselessness for anyone who knows what they're doing (the vendors' competition).
3. the result of 1 and 2 is that they're consumer-hostile devices disguised as 'convenience' network-dependent platforms rather than empowering tools one can own and retain control over (ie trust). I see little of interest here for the same reasons I don't care about my cable box.
So far I've seen little innovation other than rehashes/dumbed down versions of existing software, just with ads or with 'subscription' hooks and simplified interfaces. The closest thing we have to open is android and even that's riddled with binary only drivers and userland. bleh..
oh and spare me the 'all users want is convenience so you should just learn to deal with it' posts.. just don't bother. I've heard it all before. There's no reason why they can't have their convenience along with the power to tinker if they choose to. It's just too bad that today's users don't understand that gaining advantage with powerful tools requires a learning curve. It's also too bad that I along with tomorrow's crop of 8 to 14yos won't have the opportunity to really learn to command tomorrow's computer technology without a licensed sandbox.
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Re:Innovation (Score:5, Insightful)
While I agree with the sentiment mostly, DEMANDing security is not in the spirit of that quote. Freedom comes with responsibility, not security. You really cannot have freedom in a perfectly safe system, that is precisely why the quote talks about trading one for the other. The very power and flexibility that lets you experiment also lets you do stupid things that compromise security. Rather than demanding things, I think it's high time we accept that personal education and personal responsibility are the only way to provide both freedom and the safety that a walled garden claims to provide.
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It doesn't stop at the ability to tinker for me... If the thing has a mic, a camera, etc. and wireless networking then it has to also have a removable battery.
People are idiots for trusting something for which they can't simply 'yank the plug'. Its another indicator that a device is consumer-hostile.
which next step? (Score:2)
epy-T-R I fully, absolutely agree with your analysis.
My concern anyhow is that people are definitely migrating to this system, both end-users and developers altogether.
I fear, but definitely expect, we'll see very soon a world with unattended fossil apps on PCs Macs and linux boxes, and then walled-garden-tablets for the 90%.
Which brings my next question: how to react, now? What to do?
On my side, a couple of years ago I bought a tiny linux-driven laptop; I wasted quite a time to reach a workable state, and
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We already had one, but Nokia fell apart before they got it going.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_N9 [wikipedia.org]
Hopefully Jolla will be able to produce something, but at this point it won't be much more than a tiny niche player.
Try the keyboard and screen first (Score:2)
Thus, Linux PCs, notebooks, netbooks etc. are better be bought online (with few exceptions).
If retail is the only showroom, and retail is in turmoil, then how do you recommend that a prospective customer try the keyboard and screen of a Linux laptop before buying it?
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Interesting. As I don't have a Nexus 7, is there a page with some snapshots of the running system?
TIA!
Re:Innovation (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Innovation (Score:5, Insightful)
Many people do have similar concerns about their DVD players, as region locking renders most of them useless. Ones that have configuration options exposed can play multiple regions. In this case it's the manufacturers telling you how you can use your media rather than your device, but the concept is similar.
Why people still use DVD (Score:2)
Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (Score:2)
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I just happened to read this counter-example, yesterday:
http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-for-an-ipad [yieldthought.com]
I'm not ready for that, but it is an interesting read.
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Or your know, just buy two devices.
And carry them both. And keep both of them charged. And buy data plans for both. In addition, a lot of people don't have the means to lawfully earn money to buy multiple devices, especially those who have not yet graduated.
Get a $400 laptop, or a $600 desktop with gobs of memory and ample processing power
Once 90 percent of people have decided that they don't need more than "consumption and facebooking", how long are the economies of scale that allow these laptops and desktops to cost under $1000 going to remain in effect?
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"There's no reason why they can't have their convenience along with the power to tinker if they choose to."
Well there is, opening up some things like drivers can have all sorts of repercussions from contract negotation difficulties over patent licensing and potential legal threats and so forth, through to simply having to tidy up the code a little more, and facilitating distribution of it, through to potential increased support headaches as their support team chase round in circles over a problem before fin
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WAH! You have been able to buy a 100% unlocked and not locked down tablet for years. I am betting you are just too cheap to buy one. Fujitsu Stylistic or one of the higher ASUS tablets that are X86 based. they work great and run linux or windows or whatever you want.
Stop whining and buy one. Yes they cost around $800-$1000 but who cares, it's 100% open and you can install whatever OS you want on it.. Even X86 android!
You can tinker if you choose to, by buying the right device.
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1. How is a nexus 7 locked down?
The bootloader is unlocked and you don't have to stick with android.
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Dismissing the fundamental change in personal computing industry by saying "little innovation" and "dumbed down" software, dude if you really want something open and flexible and modifiable and you are such a tinkerer, go build one yourself. And more so, go build an ecosystem on it yourself. It may not be exciting for you but there are plen
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You're talking about the same people who watch Jersey Shore, Dancing With the Stars, and Big Brother. The "people" just want to be entertained, especially if that entertainment is mind-numbing stupid. As much as I hate to quote Men In Black. "A person is smart, people are just dumb animals."
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Nokia's N-series mini tablets (& N900 phone) offered a hidden-but-documented "red pill/blue pill" option, so that knowledgeable users could effectively choose to switch off the consumer failsafes & tinker, secure in the knowledge that if they broke stuff while experimenting, they were on their own:
http://wiki.maemo.org/Red_Pill_mode [maemo.org]
This gave the benefits of both a safe, supported "appliance" experience for Muggles, & a hackable (in the old-school sense) environment for the techie types. I think
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Weirdly enough, a lot of people don't see that as a problem.
So many of them, in fact, of them that the manufacturers don't have to worry about the people who do.
Re:Innovation (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of people didn't worry about committing their work to closed document formats in the nineties too, and people are still paying for it.
Reaching the SSH server from a vehicle (Score:2)
ssh (lots of good clients, some even let you sync session output to dropbox for records)
But then you have to pay for a data plan so that you can reach the SSH server. My use case (which I admit is probably an edge case) involves coding on the bus: I'll experiment with an algorithm or such in a free half hour while riding the bus to or from work. The buses in Fort Wayne, Indiana, don't have Wi-Fi access points, and I'm not yet ready to pay extra to upgrade my cell phone and plan to a cell phone and plan that support tethering. As for your 5+ hour flight, how much would you be willing to pay for
Re:Innovation (Score:4, Insightful)
the major driver for PC sales in the past has been obsolescence. Something new popped up that you absolutely wanted but your machine couldn't handle it. Most of the time this involved replacing CPU, Graphics card, Mainboard and possibly RAM. Basically a totally new machine.
Last year I bought an i7 based system with 16gb RAM, SSD and a Geforce 580. I also use this machine for development and have to run an awful lot on it. It is BORED stiff most of the time. CPUs have been fast enough for some time. Graphic cards don't need replacing as often since PC gaming is still held back by the current console generation. Unless of course you want to drive multiple screens at monster resolutions...
A NORMAL user who does some text processing, web browsing, Youtube and stuff can easily live with a 5 year old machine. Windows 8 might be a reason to upgrade.
So what now? Utility? Form factor? I am SERIOUSLY considering to get one of those Windows 8(not RT) Transformers once all the inevitable kinks got ironed out. And I WILL ditch my laptop for it. Because a tablet/laptop hybrid is exactly what I'm interested in. I've got a Transformer Prime which is a brilliant little machine. But now, after living with Android for the last 3 years I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that it simply sucks. Especially web browsing is atrocious. Also for some things I'd need a little bit more available performance. I don't know if the Prime is underpowered(I'm under the impression it is one of the fastes Android things out there) or if Android is the limiting factor. And I suspect it is the latter.
tl;dr:
Nobody replaces PCs at the rate they used to. And if they get replaced then it is rather for form factor than more power.
Re: (Score:2)
A NORMAL user who does some text processing, web browsing, Youtube and stuff can easily live with a 5 year old machine.
Hell, I regularly do music and video editing on my 6-year-old laptop without hiccups. It also ran every single game right up until GTA4, at which point I had consoles to play newer games on anyway. As you said, people just don't need to upgrade their computers as much these days.
Years' delay (Score:2)
I regularly do music and video editing on my 6-year-old laptop without hiccups. It also ran every single game right up until GTA4, at which point I had consoles to play newer games on anyway.
Relying on consoles for gaming works fine provided that 1. gamepads are good enough for your preferred genre (that is, not FPS or RTS), and 2. the games that you want to play are ported to consoles. If an indie game comes out for the PC, for example, it might be years before the game's developer becomes a big enough company to obtain a license to develop for consoles. But then a laptop that can handle standard-definition video editing can probably run indie games, even if at low settings.
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If I had put it at the top that would imply I knew beforehand what I would ramble on about when in reality I am as surprised by the result as you are.
tl;dr:
Bullshit is power. Especially if you don't have a clue.
ulrabook (Score:2)
The windows 8 arm tablets will not let you disable secure boot, so you unless you pay to get a bootloader signed you are stuck with windows 8. Which may or may not be a problem, but you are tied to their app store on the arm tablet. You can get an ultra book for about $400 more that has way more power, is only 3" bigger, and windows 8 x86 allows you to disable secure boot and install another OS if you want. Some of the acer ultrabooks even have touchscreens. Yes $400 is a lot, but as you pointed out compute
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To me the sweet thing about those full Windows 8 tablets is that there is absolutely no reason to bring a laptop because they basically have the same specs plus the touch screen and the form factor.
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Then buy one. X86 tablets have ben around for more than a decade.
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Couldn't you just use the cable into a powered USB hub? I know it's somewhat unsophisticated- especially when trying to be mobile, but the powered hub is supposed to solve power deficiency problems on regular devices. I suppose you could even rig a battery and charger to it. I don't know if there are any already like that or not.
Nonsense... (Score:2)
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Couldn't agree more about your comments on HTC. I have an HTC One X. It's a fine phone, powerful, stylish, well featured. But the HTC add-ons really bring it down, to the extent that I won't buy another HTC unless they sell stock Android.
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With no sympathy to a lying AC, no you don't.
Otherwise you would have offered some evidence for such a crazy claim. I know lots of android users, many root and use alternate roms, not a one pirates anything. Why bother pirating what you can buy for less than a beer at the bar?