Apple may not be the only company struggling with weak tablet sales. In a recent interview with Re/code, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly said sales of tablets have boomed and are now crashing as the volume has really gone down in the last several months.
Elaborating on the subject a bit, Joly said tablets have been an unbelievable phenomenon. Thinking back, he was unable to come up with a category that's taken off so quickly and so big in the history of tech.
The executive is absolutely correct and what we are likely looking at now is saturation. Penetration happened so quickly that we're now looking at a replacement market, just as we're seeing with smartphones. And let's not forget the fact that large-screen smartphones are also cannibalizing tablet sales.
Innovation hasn't been spectacular on tablets in the past year so consumers aren't as compelled to go out and buy the latest and greatest when their existing slate meets all of their needs, he added.
Elsewhere, Joly said they've actually noticed a revival of the PC business at Best Buy during the first quarter thanks in part to Microsoft finally ending support for Windows XP. He also noted that it helps that laptops are becoming more versatile as devices like two-in-ones are both a tablet and a laptop.
Take the Microsoft Surface, for example. Is it a tablet or a laptop? Joly believes it's both and he doesn't think the laptop has had its last word.
Do you think laptops and PCs in general will make a comeback? Are tablets just a fad like netbooks?