Digital Lifescapes

Despite the current global economic conditions, mobile computing devices continue to see surging demand -- resulting from sleeker designs, new form factors, and pent-up business demand. Mobile computing devices -- including tablets, netbooks, smartbooks and notebook PCs -- will grow at a 19.1 percent CAGR through 2014 and account for over 400 million units, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "While there will be a battle for the lower-end Internet-centric devices like tablets and netbooks, notebooks will continue to be the overall demand driver as consumers focus on lighter and lower-cost PCs and businesses continue to transition to mainstream and high-performance mobile platforms," says Jim McGregor, Chief Technology Strategist at In-Stat. In addition, demand for mobile computing is coming from both developing and industrialized regions. In-Stat's market study found the following: - Tablets will record the highest CAGR of 123.6 percent through 20...

According to Informa Telecoms & Media , sales of smartbooks are expected to rapidly grow from 3.65 million in 2010 to nearly 50 million in 2014, representing over 50 percent of all embedded device sales. This growth will be driven by a shift away from dedicated devices like e-readers, towards multifunctional portable devices like the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. These smartbooks merge the best features of both smartphones and netbooks -- plus they include always-on connectivity. "There has been a resurgence of smartbooks particularly in the tablet form, fueled by the launch of the iPad, and we are seeing the same kind of proliferation and interest in tablets now, that we saw two years ago for e-readers" said David McQueen, principal analyst at Informa. E-readers on the other hand are under threat. Electronic book (e-book) content is now available on most multifunctional devices -- such as mobile phones, tablet computers, netbooks and other portable consumer electron...