You may recall that just before Halloween, I posted a survey inquiring whether readers thought the market would bear the plethora of mobile offerings being introduced on the market.
Despite the rather underwhelming number of responses (8 if you include the open response comment from Rudolph Technologies’ Rajiv Roy). I promised to blog about the results and so I shall, with a few editorial comments included. And while I realize you can’t realistically predict the behaviors of the majority through the responses of eight individuals, I still found the responses to the following questions interesting and therefore worthy of mentioning.
“I am the proud owner of/plan to purchase in the next 3 months”, with smartphone, laptop, tablet, e-reader and Ultrabook as the choices, had six responses. All six checked smartphone, but only 4 checked laptop (that was surprising) two had tablets and one owned an e-reader. Surpisingly, none of the respondents own an Ultrabook. (In fact, Ultrabook went unchecked throughout the survey – which is what leads me to believe these results can’t be considered accurate.) I actually expected a much higher number on the last three, especially in this gadget-conscious industry.
On any given day I carry with me, my (smartphone, laptop, e-reader, Ultrabook) had seven responses. Only Smartphone and laptop were checked (7 and 4 respectively) but I accidentally left off “tablet” as a choice, so that may also have skewed results. Suffice it to say that most people carry their smartphones, while 57% carry their laptop with them on a given day. Perhaps had they been given the choice, more would also carry their tablet?
If I was stranded on a WiFi connected deserted island, I could not live without my (smartphone, laptop, tablet, e-reader) also had 7 responses.FIve people said they could not live with out their smartphones, while two selected “laptop.” This was kind of a silly question, because how can a deserted island have WiFi connectivity? But clearly, several respondents figured the laptop would be more useful than the smartphone.
If I bought a Surface, it would be as a (tablet, laptop, new class of computing device). Tablet was the clear winner with 4 out of the 7 votes. Two people selected “laptop” and only one was interested in it as a new class of computing device. That must mean that individual already has a laptop and tablet, and is a full-fledged gadget aficionado.
The following write-in responses were given to the question: Will the market bear another class of computing device? Why or Why not?.
- The market is not expanding at the same rate/pace. I believe “Surface” will be more of a niche device, like “Tablet-PC’s” which are nifty, but never grew to a significant percentage. Four respondents agreed with this statement.
- Of course. The rate of innovation will continue with newer computing devices. Wearable glasses are around the corner and will be followed by many others. Two of the respondents agreed with this.
So there you have it. Do you agree with these responses? Feel free to add your comments below.
In the spirit of updates on previous posts, I had commented here in reference to a recent post on SemiWiki titled 8 Reasons Why I hate My iPhone 5. However, given some time to get used to it, SemiWiki blogger mbriggs has had a change of heart, and in fairness to Apple, felt compelled to amend his first opinion in this follow on post “8 Reasons Why I Love my iPhone 5”. Although at the end he still says if he could do it over again, he’d pick a Samson S3. It’s really a matter of personal taste. ~ F.v.T.
