Samsung Reject “iPad Era”, Smart PCs Big Gamble

10%: that’s what Samsung bosses predict PCs will grow by this year, on the back of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 touch ‘live tiles’.
“We expect a 10 percent annual growth by volume and 25 percent growth by sales this year as we increase shipments and introduce premium products,” Samsung Executive Vice President Nam Seong-woo said yesterday.

Samsung’s high hopes are pinned on the touch friendly ATIV laptop and tablets range to be released this week, as every brand from Asus (who launched W8 devices in Oz yesterday), HP, Dell and Acer release an army of PCs on Microsoft’s new platform, released this week.

Samsung’s 11.6″ ATIV Smart PC, (ATIV the reverse of the word VITA, or “life” in Latin) is a notebook that turns into a detachable tablet, kitted with with Intel’s Atom processor, Intel SGX545 graphics, 13.5 hr battery life, front and rear cameras, and a stylus pen for business users.

The Samsung boss also pooh-poohed the notion we are now in a ‘post PC’ era, at the press conference in Korea yesterday, something his rival Apple CEO Tim Cook alluded to again at the iPad mini launch yesterday, after revealing sales of over 100 million iPads, to date.

“We sold more iPads in the June quarter than any PC maker sold of their entire lineup.” Cook said.”It turns out there’s a simple reason for this,” Cook continued. “People love their iPads.”

Samsung’s VP rejected this saying: “some say it is the post-PC era. But it is the new era for PCs that is emerging.

“Smart PCs should be seen as one of the mobile devices,” he added.

The Koreans are also releasing 5 and 7 series all in one PCs on new Windows 8.

But analysts are also dubious about the future for the beloved PC, with recent figures suggesting worldwide shipments  will decline in 2012 for the first time since the dot-com bust in 2001, according to iHS analysts, although the fall is marginal, at 1.2%

However, there are signs that a strong rebound could still occur in 2013, iHS also said this month, with the new slew of ultrabooks and ultrathin notebook having the potential to redraw the PC landscape, and adding Windows 8 to the mix could “prove potent and irresistible to consumers.”

But will VITA and Microsoft breath life back into the flat PC and notebook category? Time will tell.