First look video: Toshiba “touch”
The iPad is highly popular around the world and is taking market share away from netbooks. That much you can see all around you. — But, how could the other manufacturers fight back?
Context & Ripple Effects
Toshiba had already said it would introduce tablet-style devices in 2010 while reporting a surge in U.S. PC sales. Its dual-screen touch concept turns that stated response into a visible product direction rather than a generic slate plan.
The move lands amid a widening field of announced iPad rivals and variations on the iPad format. It matters because iPad sales were already reported as cannibalizing netbooks, putting pressure on PC makers to find a differentiator beyond conventional portable PCs.
First-order effects
- Toshiba gains a distinct dual-screen design to position alongside its planned tablet devices, placing its hardware interface in direct comparison with the iPad.
- The iPad becomes the immediate competitive benchmark for Toshiba's portable-computing response as attention shifts from netbooks toward tablets.
Second-order effects
- Asus and other manufacturers preparing iPad alternatives face a sharper need to differentiate on interface and form factor, rather than merely offer another slate.
- Toshiba's PC business must allocate its portable-computing story between its growing conventional PC sales and a tablet category already drawing demand from netbooks.
Third-order effects
- If more PC vendors answer tablet demand with differentiated designs, portable computing competition will move from netbook specifications toward touch interfaces and device form factors.
- The pattern points to tablets becoming a defensive product category for PC makers as iPad-driven cannibalization erodes the separation between netbooks and media-focused devices.
The trend: PC makers are responding to iPad-led pressure on netbooks by treating touch-first tablet design as a core competitive front.