Janine
Current Event #2
Topic: Technology
Title: As New iPad Debut Near, Some See Decline of PCs
Author: Nick Wingfield
New York Times
March 5, 2012
Article length: 1038 words

It is highly possible the day will come when tablet devices like the Apple iPad outsell tradition personal computers. Many analysts and veteran technology industry executives contend that the torrid growth rates of the iPad, combined with tablet competiton from the likes of Amazon.com and Microsoft, make a changing in popularly a when, not if. Tablet sales are likely to increase dramatically this week when Apple introduces its newest version of the iPad, which is expected to have a higher- resolution screen. Brad Silverberg, a venture capitalist and a former Microsoft executive concludes that the Tablet is the latest and greatest in up and coming technology.

In 2011, PCs outsold tablets almost six to one, which was a considerable change from 2010, when PCs outsold tablets 20 to one. For the last two years, PC sales were flat, while iPad sales were booming.  Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, estimates that iPads will outsell PCs in the year 2017. Microsoft's introduction of Windows 8 promises to shake up computer designs further. Microsoft and its hardware partners have shown laptops with keyboards that can be swiveled around or removed altogether, turning them into tablets. The tablet and PC markets are going to blur together, both making form-factor innovations that will keep them in competition with each other for years to come.