Channel Beat: Are Tablet Sales Really Crashing?

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In this week's top stories, Best Buy’s Hubert Joly said tablet sales volume has plummeted in the last several months, citing replacement as the issue.

Joly said the life of tablets depends on "what innovation comes to market. You need a reason to replace." The tablet market declined for the first time in the first quarter of 2014, but IDC predicts it is still set for growth this year. Apple and Samsung both took a hit in tablet sales numbers in the second quarter. It’s also the first time Apple has lost market share since the launch of the iPad in 2010.

Yet again, Samsung postponed its Z smartphone, which will employ the Tizen operating system. The Z was supposed to hit Russian markets more than a month ago, but Samsung wants to further develop the operating system and ecosystem. Samsung is concerned about the portfolio of apps it will be able to provide customers when the phone launches.

Google improved its Google Apps for Business suite this week with the addition of instant messaging, videoconferencing and Hangouts. In the new version of Hangouts, users will not need a Google+ account, and it will enable up to 15 interactions at a time. Google confirmed Hangouts is fully secure and supported. Google partners also are offering interconnections between Hangouts and traditional in-house videoconferencing systems.

PUBLISHED AUG. 1, 2014