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"There are so many settings in which notebooks and desktops aren't practical, but tablets are. Places where specialized software is required. Tablets deployed in retail, healthcare, defense, airplanes, hospitality, parcel delivery, onsite sales and repair, city councils, classrooms, elderly homes, etc etc."

This is partially what I meant by "non-consumption." In few if any of those environments are tablets replacing desktops. They're making those jobs easier to do by integrating software where previously it wasn't possible. Perhaps it's replacing a clipboard and pen, but not really a desktop.

"Also, even productivity software works better on tablets in some cases. Nowadays, I use OmniPlan for iPad instead of Microsoft Project and Apple Numbers for iPad instead of the OS X version. I make website mockups on the iPad instead of on the desktop. For what I need to do, it's faster and more convenient."

This may be true, but I would argue that this is what would be defined as a niche market. People in corporate America using Word and Excel is not.

However I do recognize that this might not always be the case. The tablet may come to surpass the desktop in enabling productivity which is why I said that if manufacturers ever halted desktop production, he/she would likely not be using desktops for productivity anymore, either. Chances are what he/she does isn't all that unique compared to the overall market.



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