Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
with a tablet that you just don't get with a computer, and the consumer market is buying
tablets in huge volumes.
The tablet “computer” has made big strides in the last few years mainly because of Apple's
invention of the iPad. The iPad is thin and has a touch screen that allows a customer to
operate the device without a keyboard. These devices have exceptional web browsing cap-
abilities and, unlike a computer, they have hundreds of thousands of specialized “apps” that
can be downloaded and used by most age groups. Apps include everything from games to
specialized word processors to virtual musical instruments, and typically the apps make use
of the touch screen and its performance.
After the invention of the iPad, many manufacturers joined the tablet revolution and can
vary in terms of power and operating system. Most tablets use a special operating system
designed to make the most of the touch interface. The touch capability gives a tablet its
“cool factor” and makes the device fun and simple to use.
Today's tablets have exceptional battery life and cameras that make the handheld device
fully functioning on road trips as well as at home.
The key to the tablet's usability is the touch screen. Without a functioning touch screen, a
customer has a useless piece of hardware. A business can make an entire living on repair-
ing touch screens and diving deep into the tablet niche. Tablets aren't cheap, so repairs are
viable, and at a good margin. Bear in mind that the tablet market can be a great business
and the trend seems to going well for tablet sales.
Smartphones?
In 2005 Google was snatching up start-up companies with potential, and among them was
an almost unheard of operating system producer called “Android.”
In 2011, two hundred and fifty million Android products were activated, compared to the
one hundred and four million iPads and iPhones activated by Apple, Inc. Most recently,
three out of four phones purchased were on the Android platform. That breaks down to fif-
teen Android devices being sold every second. These two-hundreddollar devices are almost
as popular as Big Macs from McDonald's, which sell at a rate of seventeen every second.
Currently the Android market has the lion's share of the smartphone market, and there's
most certainly a need for service and repair in this field. Parts sourcing is most difficult for
these products, but if it were easy, everyone would do it.
Apple, Inc. also manufactures a popular smartphone called the iPhone. Yes, so popular that
at the writing of this topic, we have five of them in our household alone!
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