[PatNY]

Originally Posted by ApK

Hey, it's 2014! Who won the bet?!

Hi Apk, you tell me ...

Phablets To Outdo Small Tablets In 2014: Technalysis's O'Donnell

In the United States, people routinely mock extra-big smartphones that approach tablet-computer dimensions. Maybe it’s time to stop snickering. Demand for these odd-sized devices is growing so fast in Asia, Europe and Brazil that “phablets” worldwide in 2014 should outsell traditional smaller tablets, predicts Bob O’Donnell, the founder of Technalysis Research.

“I thought phablets were ridiculous at first,” O’Donnell concedes. “How could you hold one to your ear to make a call? But over time, they grow on you.” For 2014, he predicts that 175 million phablets will be sold worldwide, versus a more modest 165 million sales of smaller tablets (screens measuring 8 inches or less on the diagonal.)

O’Donnell has been one of the tech sector’s leading industry analysts over the past 14 years ...


Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgean...siss-odonnell/

IDC: in Asia, phablets now outselling both PCs and tablets

If a camel is a horse created by committee, then a phablet is a device built by indecision between a smartphone and tablet. Whatever the definition, popularity of the product with a screen between five and seven inches diagonally is skyrocketing in much of Asia. According to IDC, sales of phablets led tablets and portable PCs, up 620 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2012…

“Smartphones with screen sizes of five to just under seven inches, colloquially known as phablets, overtook shipments of each of the portable OC and tablet device categories in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) in the second quarter of 2013,” according to IDC, via Digitimes.

Source: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2013/09...lets-hot-asia/

And then there's the rumor that Apple is jumping on the phablet bandwagon sometime this year.

So, what do you think?

At any rate, thanks for dredging up this old thread. I recall starting it, but forgot almost everything that was said in it, including our casual bet. It's interesting to go back in time and seeing people's ideas and predictions about a fast growing technology area. I got a real chuckle out of reading some of the comments, particularly those from one skeptic in particular who attempted to undermine the whole idea of phablet growth.

--Pat