With the news that the notebook sector has finally overtaken the desktop sector for unit sales last year, it's becoming apparent that 2009 will be the year where mobility becomes the de facto computing standard across the world.
Traci Maynard, Acer general manager at Tarsus Technologies, says this event has been a long time coming. “Notebook prices have been coming down steadily over the past couple of years, and coupled with the pure versatility of some of the newer mobile platforms, it's not surprising that notebooks are the way forward,” she says.
“At the same time, however, the computing sector didn't have a record year in 2009 by any description,” she adds. “The growing popularity of notebooks, coupled with the decline in the desktop sector, has resulted in the mobile platform's dominance.”
On the business front, Maynard says notebooks enable connected folk to remove areas of duplication from their lives. “Consolidation is a major theme in the IT industry, not just from a back-end infrastructure perspective, but on the front-end, where users are prone to having their data spread out across numerous devices.
“With Internet connectivity and the various services available online becoming so pervasively accessible, users are finding that their data can live online in the cloud and be accessed from a single, convenient device such as a notebook. If anything, I see the trend towards notebooks and mobility in the business sector increasing over the coming months and even years,” she adds.
Looking further afield, Maynard says the versatility of notebook platforms also counts a great deal when it comes to consumer buying decisions.
“We're fast approaching a time when consumers will ask 'what's on the Internet tonight?' as opposed to 'what's on TV tonight?' With consumer notebooks becoming more packed with features each quarter, and 17-inch screens becoming commonplace on a number of offerings, mobile computers are taking over as the centre of the digital home.”
While Maynard believes that notebooks will continue to be a dominant force over the coming years, she says it's unlikely that mobile computers will be capable of saving the market from its downturn.
“The downturn is less about the economic climate than it is about the gap that exists between the demands of today's software and the capabilities of today's hardware.
”There's been a slowdown in spending because, for the most part, hardware manufactured in the last two years is still capable of meeting the demands of most of today's productivity and business software.
“In more specialised environments, like graphics manipulation, CAD/CAM, data processing and multimedia, it's a different story, however,” she says.
“Because the mass market is still satisfied by middle-of-the-road hardware, there's been little call for upgrade and therefore there has been a slowdown in the market - and let's also not forget that netbooks have just hit the scene,” she adds.
These machines contain more cost-effective processors and other components, and the revenue per unit made by manufacturers and semiconductor companies is therefore lower than it has ever been before.
“And since there's still a great deal of confusion in the market as to where exactly netbooks fit in the picture, they're acting as a disruptive force. When the market realises that these machines are perfect 'second-machines' for ultra-mobile executives and that for most users they can't act as replacements for conventional notebooks, they will contribute to revenues as opposed to being a detractor,” she says.
Maynard says that is why the resurgence in the market is two to three years away.
“Until then, vendors and manufacturers need to keep a level head and focus on staying abreast of new developments and product ideas,” she concludes.
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Tarsus Technologies
With more than 20 years of experience in the ICT industry, Tarsus is the leading value-added distributor in South Africa, specialising in the supply of the world's foremost PC and peripheral hardware brands to the local reseller channel.
Tarsus strives to meet the channel's needs for credit funding, stock availability and efficient logistics, ensuring that resellers are able to deliver the highest quality service to their customers, focus on support and compiling the best overall solutions for their end-user customer base at the lowest possible cost.
The company prides itself on its flexibility, adaptability, knowledge, skills and successful track record combined with an industry-leading ability to manage large rollouts. These are the reasons Tarsus has consistently been rated as the top distributor in the country by international vendors, resellers and the IT media alike.
With its strong commitment to the South African channel, Tarsus is able to not only make the reseller channel more efficient, but more importantly, it plays a vital role in dramatically reducing the costs of doing business in the local ICT market.
Brands represented by the Tarsus stable include industry leaders like Acer, APC Cisco, HP, IBM, Lenovo, LG Electronics, OKI, Samsung, TallyGenicom, Targus and Wyse Technology.
More information about Tarsus is available at: http://www.tarsus.co.za.
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