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iPad competitors place strain on parts suppliers
The Apple iPad kicked off a tablet revolution in 2010 that promises to explode in 2011. Global tablet shipments are expected to triple in this upcoming year as competing manufacturers rush to produce a variety of slate devices to compete with the iPad. According to IHS iSuppli, this plethora of tablets will disrupt the global display industry, leading to both shortages and excess inventories over the next 12 months. In an attempt to meet anticipated demand, display manufacturers will produce a variety of screens in different configurations. Market forces will cause some displays to sell briskly, while others will sell poorly. Inventory that is leftover will be scrapped or sold at a heavy discount. The tablet market in 2011 will be comprised of a wide variety of devices from large manufacturers (like HP and Dell) as well small manufacturers (like Viliv and Notion Ink). The total volume produced is expected to reach a staggering 57.6 million units, up from 17.1 million in 2010. The bulk of these devices will be powered by some flavor of Android including the tablet-optimized Android 3.0 Honeycomb. RIM is also expected to jump on the tablet bandwagon with its QNX-powered BlackBerry PlayBook, and HP reportedly has a webOS tablet in the works. In the face of this growing competition, Apple should remain confident as the iPad is projected to retain its title as market leader for at least the next two years.
Is China's WoW delay politically motivated?
I don't presume to know much about trade policy or international relations, so I'll just pass you this link to a story over on VentureBeat and let you decide for yourself. You probably have already heard that Blizzard has had plenty of trouble trying to bring World of Warcraft back online in China -- they've been waiting on approval from the Chinese government's General Administration of Press and Publication, which has already mandated a few changes to the game. Dean Takahashi at VB suggests that rather than being a technical issue, the delay may actually be political and/or economically motivated: the US and China have been bumping gently lately over exports and imports, and Takahashi suggests that Blizzard's game may have gotten caught in the middle. The GAPP, he says, may be holding the game back, concerned that such a popular foreign game might be released again on their soil.Fortunately, even Takahashi says it's unsubstantiated -- WoW is likely to go back online in China in a matter of days, and the delays could just as easily have been administrative errors. But I do agree with Takahashi that it's worth watching -- China is cautious about allowing foreign manufacturers to sell to their citizens, and video games are no exception.
