Is The iPad a Mobile PC?

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mactech.com/2010/12/08/should-ipad-count-mobile-computer-yes' target='_blank'>http://www.mactech.com/2010/12/08/s...le-computer-yes</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Recently, 'ZDNet' asked, "Should the iPad count as a mobile PC? And I say 'certainly.' After all, DisplaySearch rightfully put the Apple tablet in the computerC category with its Monday release of the 'Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report '"</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/zt/auto/1269881720.usr105634.jpg" /></p><p>By putting the iPad in the Mobile PC category, <a href="http://www.displaysearch.com/cps/rde/xchg/displaysearch/hs.xsl/101206_ipad_effect_continues_as_apple_gains_market_share_in_developed_regions.asp" target="_blank">the report</a> gives Apple the number one spot in North America and the number three spot worldwide when it comes to market share. This lists puts all tablets in the mobile PC category and doesn't separate them out, and should they really? I mean, it is a mobile PC when it comes right down to it. Sure, the iPad falls under the tablet category, but that is just a subset of a larger category, namely the mobile PC market. What are your thoughts?</p>

[Sven Johannsen]

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. Not sure I can debate whether or not the iPad is a mobile PC or not, but if it is, why aren't iPod Touches and iPhones, Mobile PCs? What can I not do on my iPhone or Touch that sets the iPad apart from them. In the same vein, how is an Android Tablet functionally so different from an Android Smartphone. Is the former a PC and the latter not? We don't have a Windows Phone 7 Tablet yet (thank God, IMHO) but WM 6.5 had the ability to do the vast majority of stuff I did on my Wiindows PC.

So what defines a PC anymore, and what defines mobile for that matter. The Army expects you to be able to operate while you are moving to be called mobile. If that is the case, I'd suggest most laptops aren't particularly 'mobile' PCs. What's a PC? Isn't Google's new Chrome laptop basically a remote screen and IO to a cloud based processing capability? So is the Chrome a PC, or really no more than a smart TV with a keyboard? Is it local processing, size, what?, that defines something as a Personal Computer. If the company owns it is it still personal? ;)

I think if you want to, you can define catagories any way you want to get the outcome you desire, or were told to produce.