The tablet on the way to supplant the PC

The decision of HP, world's largest manufacturer of computers, separate from its PC reflects a major change in the industry and marks the emergence of new players.

This is a milestone in the history of computing. The world's leading manufacturer of PC announced that it will withdraw from this activity. In making this decision, Leo Apotheker, CEO of HP, takes note of a double reality: the market has already switched to the HP tablets and missed that turn.

The boundary drawn between PCs and tablets no longer be needed. Laptops and the "Pad" or "Tab" to the same target audience. "The tablet is the ultimate mobile device. It will even be the first TV screen connected in homes and transportable, "predicts Christopher Aulnette, CEO of Netgem.

PC sales will continue to grow in the coming years, but at a slower pace. In the last quarter, they rose by only 2% worldwide and even dropped by 19% in Europe, according to the latest study by Gartner. PC sales have been hard hit by soaring sales of tablets. DisplaySearch fact of Apple the leading seller of laptops, PCs and by adding the shelves in the same category. HP is demoted to second place. "The slowdown in sales growth of PC is due to higher sales of tablets," said Richard Shim, senior analyst at DisplaySearch. So much so that by 2016 it is expected to sell more bars in the world of laptops. This is due to consumer demand. The PC market is still supported by demand from businesses.

The launch of the iPad, last year, PC makers were first considered this the emergence of a new market. They readily confined the tablet to the consultation content, reserving the game more "noble" computing, content creation, to the PC. It only took a few months to shake the certainties. On a daily basis, the consumer sends e-mails, watch videos, plays, reading a newspaper, surfing, photo sharing on the Internet ... So many things that are perfectly feasible on a shelf, or even more easily than a laptop . Besides all uses brought by additional accessories such as holders for music.

While the tablets are not equipped with big hard drives capable of storing data. But Apple has already provided an answer to storage problems with icloud. All information can be stored on external servers. The only limit to access constantly, you need a connection worthy of the name. The tablet can connect at home Wi-Fi or outside the network via the Internet Mobile Broadband 3G.

An integrated model

Finally, the supply of tablets will continue to evolve, driven by competition among big players, Apple and Google, and their "challengers" Microsoft and RIM (BlackBerry).

"To exist on the consumer market for personal computers, must be able to sell PCs, tablets and smartphones, said Ranjit Atwal, an analyst at Gartner. The profits come from the ecosystem that results, not hardware sales. "Apple is the model. After developing the application store on iPhone and iPad, he extended the principle to the Mac.

As such, Leo Apotheker wanted to go too fast. He left no time to its operating system WebOS, or its application store, AppCatalog, to develop. "The transition of a business model to another is not easy, and HP probably has overestimated the value of its brand among consumers," said Ranjit Atwal. In the last quarter, PC sales to individuals of HP fell 10%, while those companies grew by 20%.