Windows 10 and hybrid boxes to ride new adoption winds

MUMBAI, INDIA: Get set for Hybrid devices accounting for 12 per cent of total sales of mobile PCs in 2015. The foothold could get deeper to 26 per cent in 2019. Worldwide shipments of hybrid devices have been clocked to be on pace to reach 21.5 million units in 2015, an increase of 70 per cent from 2014, according to Gartner, Inc.

"Of the 21.5 million hybrid devices shipped in 2015, eight million will be ultramobile tablets (two-in-one tablets) and 13.5 million hybrid ultramobiles (two-in-one detachable and convertible ultramobiles). This will make hybrid ultramobiles the fastest-growing segment of the mobile PC market with 77 per cent year-on-year growth," said Tracy Tsai, research director at Gartner.

"The combination of portability, productivity and flexibility of touch and a keyboard in one device is attracting some notebook and tablet users to replace their devices with hybrid form factors," said Tsai. "PC vendors are expanding into this segment with a value proposition to compete with Apple and Android-based tablet vendors."

Gartner analysts added that, despite hybrid devices achieving strong growth, clamshells will remain the mainstream form factor, accounting for 87 per cent of mobile PCs in 2015 and 74 per cent in 2019. The research firm observes that PC vendors are expanding into hybrid devices for notebook and tablet users — the primary targets for the hybrid form factor. According to a Gartner survey of more than 21,000 respondents across five countries (U.S., China, Brazil, India and Germany) conducted in the third quarter of 2014, as many as 11 per cent of tablet users, 10 per cent of desktop users and eight per cent of notebook users are considering replacing their current device with a hybrid device in the next two years.

In the enterprise segment, IT departments are struggling to make a compelling case to purchase hybrid ultramobiles for users because the PC installed base is predominantly Windows 7 and legacy applications are not touch-based. "However, this will change when businesses start to migrate to Windows 10," said Tsai. "Windows 10 on hybrid ultramobiles will offer a better user experience with touch and voice as well as universal Windows apps — apps written just once that receive device-specific user experience tweaks to allow them to run on different Windows devices."

Businesses will also need to prepare for the end of extended Windows 7 support by January 2020. It is now a good time to look beyond the clamshell notebook to consider if other form factors will make a better productivity fit.