tablet

The numbers are out -- people increasingly prefer to browse the Internet on tablets rather than smartphones.

Adobe released its latest Digital Index today and discovered that for the first time ever worldwide tablet traffic has surpassed smartphone traffic. Tablets now drive 8 percent of all Internet traffic, while smartphones generate 7 percent.

"We've been keeping a close eye on how quickly tablets have taken off," manager and primary analyst working on Adobe Digital Index Tyler White wrote in a blog post today. "Smartphones remain much more common, but the tablet form factor makes it ideal … Read more

The second-generation iPad Mini will force tablet vendors to continue to drop their prices, says J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz.

In an investors note out today, Moskowitz raised his 2013 tablet sales forecasts based on a boost from the Mini and other low-cost tablets.

The analyst now expects tablet unit sales to grow by 65 percent this year, up from a prior estimate of 53.5 percent. Overall tablets revenues are likely to rise by 33.2 percent, compared with the previous projection of 32.5 percent.

Apple will be the major beneficiary of those higher tablet sales. In … Read more

The Sony Vaio Tap 20 introduced us to the idea of the all-in-one/tablet hybrid device. Asus has taken that concept, slathered it with Asus' particular brand of experimental enthusiasm, and brought it to life in the form of the $1,299 Transformer AIO.

The Transformer AIO, like the Sony Tap 20, shows an effort to offer consumers an intriguing new blend of all-in-one desktop and semiportable tablet. Rather than following Sony's approach of relying on Windows 8's new touch-friendly interface to achieve that mix with a single, seamless piece of hardware, the Transformer AIO essentially gives you … Read more

News Corp. might be known for its range of news outlets, but the company today has unveiled a tablet as well.

At the SXSWedu event in Austin, Texas, today, Amplify, the recently launched education arm of News Corp., unveiled a new tablet. Appropriately named the Amplify Tablet, the device will run on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and come with a 10-inch display. The device, which is running on the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core CPU, is designed for children in grades kindergarten through 12 and comes bundled with all kinds of Amplify software designed to improve the learning experience.

According … Read more

Are the iPhone and iPad losing some of their steam? At least one analyst thinks so.

Citi analyst Glen Yeung believes that end-user demand for the iPhone 5 and the iPad are declining. In an investors note out today, the analyst pointed to a reduction in component orders from Apple suppliers as the cause for his bearish assessment.

"In conducting our regular field work with the hardware supply chain, we again find evidence of reduced demand to Apple's suppliers for iPhone 5 related components," Yeung said in his note. "While production does not directly translate to … Read more

Windows RT is in a bit of trouble.

Samsung today told German news site Heise that it's changed its mind on releasing the Ativ Tab in Germany. Samsung had previously hoped to offer the tablet to German customers, but revealed to Heise that demand for Windows RT is low in the country, prompting it to rethink its strategy.

The news isn't all that surprising. The company told CNET in January that it wouldn't launch its Windows RT-based tablet in the U.S. because of low demand. Here's what Samsung senior vice president Mike Abary told CNET … Read more

Consumers may be thrown by all the different mobile devices on the market. But app developers face an even thornier problem.

Creating software for the mobile landscape has become harder as the sheer number of different devices has grown.

The number of major operating systems might be limited -- Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Phone, BlackBerry. But each OS can be home to dozens or hundreds of different phones and tablets, especially in the Android arena.

Developers who want to write for 90 percent of all active devices would need to support 331 different models, according … Read more

Staples in dangling a $400 trade-in deal to steer customers toward Windows 8 devices.

How does it work? The retailer's "Trade up to touch" Web page explains the process.

You first have to buy a Windows 8 touch device from Staples. It can be an all-in-one PC, a notebook, or a tablet, but it must be one of the qualifying items on the retailer's list. The list includes all-in-ones from Hewlett-Packard and Dell, laptops from Lenovo and Asus, and the various flavors of Microsoft's Surface RT and Pro tablets.

You then identify the device that … Read more

I know from response to past posts that there's a lot of interest in rooting Barnes & Noble's Nook tablets (specifically the Nook Color, Nook Tablet, Nook HD, and Nook HD+). And why not? The hardware is great, but B&N's heavily modded interface curtails many of Android's best features -- not the least of which is access to Google Play and all the apps, movies, TV shows, and games therein.

Tech-savvy users can "root" a Nook to run Android proper, and the even tech-savvier ones can make a Nook run Android from … Read more