Rising Trend: Tablet PC's
The popularity of Tablet PC's is on the rise. As a 2-year user of a Toshiba M200, I firmly believe that all laptops will soon be outfitted with the flip screen and pen function.If you get in early, I think there are some great opportunities to a piece of action in the...
Sigmatel Inc (SGTL) - Designs and develops analog-intensive, mixed-signal integrated circuits.
Portalplayer Inc (PLAY) - Designs, develops and markets comprehensive platform solutions.
As a college student and a proctor in a computer lab, I can personally attest to the fact that laptops are getting ever more popular as described in this USA Today article (here). Mark Cuban writes in his personal blog how desktops are boring.
This tablet technology will soon burst its way into mainstream when prices come down a bit and people become more familar with the technology. I consider myself an extremely fast and adept computer user, and a simple mouse does not cut it. ESPECIALLY those slow touch-pads on laptops.
So if you happen to have any inside information about where certain specialized tablet parts come from, let me know!
posted by Neville @ 1:11 AM
25 comments
25 Comments:
lol, interesting ideas you have...and they actually kinda make sense...if you can predict these companies ^_^.
I'm currently doing this type of investing (I bought stock in a company that makes the cores for processors used in cell phones, as cell phones everywhere today...).
It is a great idea, as tablet PC's will likely take off in the next 3-5 yrs (although I thought I read a report which said that doctors are not using them as much as predicted...also...I recall the same "story" when palm devices were introduced, and they fell flat).
So what components are ubiquitous to a tablet PC? I'd say the screen and whatever makes that work. I don't know of any mnfr's, but do a google, get a couple of leads, then surf the Yahoo msg boards for more leads.
I have done this before...call and ask to speak to the tech dept or whatever, explain that you are a student and are doing a project and you are trying to figure out the mnf'g process or some crap. These people will talk your ear off and you will get tons of info.
Check out the "Inkernet" at Channel9 MSDN. They have a forum that includes a bunch of stuff similar to your Tablet PC pen annotations.
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=57600
Palm's are currently the rage right now, but when tablets get smaller, lighter, more powerful and most importantly, cheaper, I think they might start to infiltrate the field a little more.
Here’s my take on this. If you want to predict the future hot trend, look no further than … science fiction! Yes, look at how much stuff Herbert Wells predicted. I was always confident that the stuff they use in Star Trek will once hit the market, in terms of technology at least. I am not talking about plasma infubulator, or a warp drive, but something smaller, like their reading pads, tricorder-scanner for medical use, com badges as communicating devices and tons of other stuff. It’s all a matter of predicting which techno gizmo hits the markets first!!!
A quick google search has some good articles on what they did, and the increase to wine sales it produced.
Second - I work in marketing for a semiconductor manufacturer...so I'll check with some people to see who they think can tip the market...my initial guess is someone in Asia (Japan likely), as the mobile market there is significantly larger than the desktop market.
Third - a great RSS news feed to keep up with cool technology is Engadget.
-Jess
The 2nd generations (what I own) are not.
-Nev
But good tip, I may shift a few stocks around and grab some Wacom.
Manufacturers usually always mark their parts in some fashion. Worst case you could try to find the FCC code and look that up online to try to match the part with the vendor. Of course none of this is guaranteed though but I'm sure you could find at least a couple of key component manufacturers this way.
For those that are too scared you could always luck out and find someone who works for say HP that disassembles these things all the time. I'm sure they could tell you but would probably get fired if anyone found out. I'm sure they don't publish their component manufacturers for a reason, probably this exact one.
Manufacturers:
The top 3 are Toshiba, HP, and Acer. There are not many significant small players.
Markets:
The USA has about 1/3 of the market, followed by Europe. Surprisingly, Asia didn't have a bigger role.
Business users buy the most. Figure out where the contracts are and who is making them. Business buyers are also not as price sensitive as individuals (in my opinion). Pharmaceutical companies are a good start - the salesreps love Tablet PCs.
Commentary:
Intel makes the processor for almost all Tablet PCs. The processor is a very high margin component with high barriers to entry. The other distinct parts, like the LCD, are low margin, oversupplied, and hypercompetitive. I believe this is a very high risk investment, because it might take 5 years for the cycle to catch up. By that time, alternative technology could already be in place (Sony PSP, advanced cell phones, etc).
Laptop demand as a whole is strong and growing, but valuations might not warrant investment. Potential plays could be Intel, Toshiba, Acer, HP, and Fujitsu among others.
Caveat emptor.
It will probably take a few years to these to become mainstream & with the cost of competition in the computer component manufacturing industry, it is hard to tell if anyone is going to make any big money on these.
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