Best Buy CEO: iPad Hurting Notebook Sales

In a report that suggests rumors of tablet computers could be biting into the notebook and netbook markets is justified, Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn told The Wall Street Journal that Apple’s iPad has “cannibalized” sales of notebooks by as much as 50 percent. Dunn told the paper that sales of smartphones and portable computers continued to rise, thanks in part to devices like the iPad. It's a very different environment now," the chief electronics analyst for market researcher NPD Group Stephen Baker told the Journal. "The real cool stuff now will be the tablets, e-readers and probably the higher-end digital cameras."

A July report from a Barclays Capital analyst said Apple would sell about 20 million iPads in 2011, negatively affecting lower-cost notebooks as well as the netbook market.

The iPad is expected to account for 74.1 percent of global tablet shipments, with the remaining portion going to “a mix of older PC-type tablet products and competitive slates.” In 2011, as the competition begins seriously filling out, iSuppli still expects Apple to command 70.4 percent of the market, and nearly two-thirds market share through 2012. At present, while a number of tablet devices are set to launch — running Windows 7, Android and webOS — iSuppli said it believes none of these are ready to be serious competitors to the iPad.

Attracting the interest of many, Samsung is showing off its Galaxy Pad tablet, which includes the Android operating system and features such as 3G and WiFi capability, a 16:10 screen ratio, a SDHC memory expandability, a DMB tuner for TV viewing and something the iPad lacks—a front-facing camera for video calling.  It looks like tablets have arrived and they are here to stay.