Exploring the shift from desktop to mobile. Trends in device ownership and the contrast between consumer and corporate behaviour.

1. Is the “traditional” PC facing extinction?

2. About me
Ian Huckvale
Head of User Engagement
B.Eng Computing (Imperial College, London)
Interests:
• Digital strategy, user
experience, information
architecture, usability, accessibility, mobile
, social media
• Outside work: cooking, rowing, fencing
Twitter @IanHux
Email: ian.huckvale@readingroom.com
Blog: blog.readingroom.com

3. “If this site doesn’t work on
mobile, we will not use it”
It started with a quote from a 19 year old in a user research workshop.
This is alongside the worst sales figures for PCs in 20 years, whilst
mobile and tablet sales are soaring.

4. Are we witnesses to the death of the PC?
Is the PC as we know it being killed? And If so – then whodunnit?
What would Hercule Poirot do? Let’s investigate the facts of the case...

5. Chart credit: Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis
Smartphone sales have been soaring – but that didn’t hurt PC sales.
It was the release of tablets that has caused the slide.
The slide is specifically in consumer PCs not Corporate PCs

6. What do
tablets
represent?
When Apple released the iPad people joked that it was a big iPhone.
It isn’t – its more like a small, lightweight, touch-screen laptop.
Most of us still regard tablets as a ‘secondary device’, but for how long?

7. They may be secondary devices...
but people aren’t replacing their PC anymore
Chart credit: Tech-thoughts.net
There is a clear correlation between the advent of smartphones and
tablets and a dramatic increase in the replacement cycle for PCs .
Tablets may be secondary devices, but many people are buying one
rather than updating their home PC.

8. This is my desktop PC
I haven’t owned a desktop computer for over a decade
I plug my laptop into a screen and a keyboard at work.
What prevents me doing the same with a tablet?

9. Processing power
Software availability
Local Storage
Enterprise compatibility
Connectivity
So the PC is safe... for now... Or is it?
These are some of the commonly quoted barriers to tablets becomming
a true PC replacement.

10. Issue for tablets For business PCs For consumer PCs
Lower processing
power
Unless you’re a
designer – do you
actually need it?
If you play 3D games
Software availability MS Office still
dominates
+ corp databases
I just need a
replacement for
Word and Excel
No local storage Is certainly useful What’s wrong with
the cloud?
Connectivity What do you
regularly connect?
Buy an adaptor or
use bluetooth
Enterprise
compatibility
Essential I don’t care
Barriers to tablets as PC replacements
How many of these are really barriers? For many home users, tablets
are already “good enough” as a PC replacement

11. So what happens next...?
If tablets really are about to kill off consumer PCs – then here are a few
things I think we should take into account in our projects

12. #takeaway: Screen size is only part of the picture
Think about the interface and the context of usage

13. #takeaway: We use touch interfaces differently to PCs
More inquisitive and experimental ... tap anything damn it!

14. #takeaway: I just need to focus on iPad users? ... Wrong
Q2 2011 Apple had 81% of the market... Q2 2013 it has 39%

15. #takeaway: Context of usage is very different to PC
Couch is the most common, followed by using it in bed....

16. #takeaway: Application usage patterns are different
Email leads; followed by social networks and then shopping

17. For PCs : “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning
of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”

18. Google research on context of usage for tablets
http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/resear
ch.google.com/en//pubs/archive/38135.pdf
Tech thoughts: Impact of iOS & Android on the PC Replacement Cycle
http://www.tech-thoughts.net/2012/09/ios-android-pc-replacement-
impact.html#.Ua8Nepyyk80
IDC: Worldwide Tablet Market Surges Ahead on Strong First Quarter Sales
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24093213
Mobile UX: we’re still human – my own presentation and blog series
http://www.slideshare.net/readingroomstudio/mobile-ux-were-still-human
http://blog.readingroom.com/2012/06/18/mobile-ux-1-were-still-human/
http://blog.readingroom.com/2012/08/10/mobile-ux-your-plastic-pal/
http://blog.readingroom.com/2012/11/21/mobile-ux-all-in-the-memes/
Sources and useful links: