That forecast could be taken to mean either that the tablet, such as the Apple iPad, really will create a new segment of the consumer electronics market, or that it will cannibalize part of existing markets such as netbooks, notebooks or laptops, or that tablets. In the former case the tablet might replace some parts of the need for e-book readers and netbooks or notebooks; in the latter case the tablet will change the user interface from keys to touchpad.
To be sure, devices such as the iPad could succeed simply by rearranging existing demand. But Apple, for one, seems to have achieved its greatest success when it can create a whole new market or rearrange an existing market. The iPod created a new market, while the iPhone rearranged an existing market.
Coda researchers so far think tablet computers represent the emergence of a new market, and new behaviors.
Consumer usage will tend to be around content consumption rather than creation, and for accessing information. A greater proportion of slates will be shared across household members than notebooks currently are. It is possible, in other words, that although high-end slates might continue to be personal items, as are mobile phones, some lower-end slates might be more like remote controls, used by everybody in a household, and not "owned" by individuals.
Business uses also could arise in healthcare, education, field sales and services, real estate, the insurance industry, and industrial design, Coda believes.
The other likely avenue is use by traveling workers, for the same reason many people now claim they can travel without a PC, and simply use a smartphone. Though the iPad and other tablets will not likely replace the smartphone on trips, many could decide it works well enough to take along as a substitute for the PC, the iPod and the e-book reader.
