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Laptops, Tablets, eReaders

The Fall and Fall of the PC Notebook

13 July 2011 Marco Attard Laptops, Tablets, eReaders

There are no doubts about it-- tablets have hit the WW notebook PC market hard. Further confirmation of this comes from a SplatF chart comparing notebook sales (the industry overall and HP) with Apple's.

Things were much brighter for the notebook market back in 2009, with notebook sales reaching growth totalling 20 - 40% Y-o-Y. Current notebook growth is now but a fraction of its former self, and is basically flat.

The notebook's fall coincides with the iPad's rise. Notebook growth for Q1 20 Continue reading...

Radeon's Latest Mobile Graphics Addition

13 July 2011 Marco Attard Laptops, Tablets, eReaders

Radeon's Latest Mobile Graphics Addition

AMD launches the Radeon HD 6970M's successor-- the HD 6990M GPU, saying it's the fast single mobile graphics processor on the market.

Designed for gaming, it carries AMD's CrossFireX and EyeFinity technologies, together with DirectX 11 and Stereo 3D support, with AMD claiming it beats Nvidia's offerings at a number of game benchmarks.

The processor also improves on video playback and internet browser performance via App Acceleration technology.

The HD 6990M will be available in a number Alienware Continue reading...

Tablet Market Facing Slowdown?

13 July 2011 Marco Attard Laptops, Tablets, eReaders

The IDC reports WW tablet sales are slowing down-- with unit shipments for Q1 2011 reaching 7.2m, a 28% decline from Q4 2010.

Such a decline follows seasonal trends typical to more mature CE and computing categories. The WW eReader market also feels similar seasonality, with shipments going through such a similar decline and reaching 3.3m units.

The eReader market also shows Y-o-Y growth of 105% in Q1 2011 (Y-o-Y growth figures for tablets are not yet available).

The analyst still predicts growth Continue reading...

Huawei: the First 7" Honeycomb

22 June 2011 Marco Attard Laptops, Tablets, eReaders

Huawei announces the MediaPad, saying it's the first 7" tablet carrying Android 3.2-- the OS' version optimised for 7" devices (rather than 10").

It carries an IPS capacitative touchpanel, with a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm processor providing power.

Otherwise all the tablet standards apply-- x2 cameras (1.3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), Bluetooth, HSPA+ and wifi connections, HDMI port and a number of pre-installed apps (Facebook, Twitter, and the like). Being an Android, it also supports Continue reading...

Retailers: Where is Your Tablet Section?

22 June 2011 Gurpreet Kaur Laptops, Tablets, eReaders

Retailers: Where is Your Tablet Section?

Anyone who is following the tablet market knows the pace at which vendors are announcing and now shipping products to the channel. The category has exploded in terms of number of players from a single vendor in April 2010 (read Apple here) to 19 vendors currently selling tablets in the 18 retail chains monitored by gap intelligence each week.

However, unlike more established categories like computers, digital cameras and TV’s, tablets right now do not have a dedicated section devoted to them in any store...

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