Q1 tablet sales doubled compared to last year. Apple is losing market share to Google and Microsoft

Even though pc sales are struggling, tablet sales are increasing rapidly. In Q1 2012 around 20 million tablets were sold, while in Q1 2013 over 40 million were sold.

What’s also interesting is that Apple is losing tablet market share to Google and Microsoft compared to Q1 last year:

My view on this:

• Tablets are becoming increasingly more important.
• Pricing is very important to tablet buyers since the Google Android tablets have been selling that well.
• Apple needs to come up with something fresh if they want to maintain or even increase their market share.
• Windows tablet sales haven’t been as bad as some believed. Of course there’s still a lot of room for improvement, but I think that it will keep gainimg market share. Especially when prices will become more competive and when the number of good apps increaes.
• Windows 8 has been blamed for bad PC sales, but Apple Mac sales fell 7.5% as well. I believe it’s just that customers rather have tablets and smarphones instead of PCs. Also it might be possible that the PC market just has become saturated.

 

Free – Paragon Partition Manager 12 Home Special Edition *only 2 days*

Paragon is giving away “Paragon Partition Manager 12 Home Special Edition” for 2 days if you like them on FaceBook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paragon-Software-Group/116815481437?sk=app_129643070561720&app_data

I don’t know when this offer started, but it would be best to use the offer as quick as you can and at least before the weekend.

I hope it is of use to you.

 

Microsoft – Surface Pro will be available before end of May in The Netherlands and many other countries

By the end of June, the Surface RT will be available in 29 countries and the Surface pro will be available in 25 countries.

It’s a pity we often have to wait for new products like the Surface Pro, but at least it’s coming to the Netherlands. And the waiting will also be over pretty soon, since it will be available before the end of May.

Personally I’m not a big fan of Windows RT, but I really love Windows 8 tablets. Since I’ve gotten my Windows 8 tablet, I have been using it as my main device. And apparently I’m not the only one as you can read in this great article:
“Two months with the Surface Pro and how it replaced my notebook”.

If you’re considering a tablet and are not yet sure if a Windows RT, Windows 8, Android or Apple tablet best meets your needs, read the comparison from one my previous blog posts.

 

Passed the OS X Server Essentials 10.8 exam and earned Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) 10.8 title

Yesterday, my colleague Daniel Hass (Macastic blog) from Open Line and I have both passed the “OS X Server Essentials 10.8″ exam with scores of over 90%. Because we had already passed the “OS X Support Essentials 10.8″ exam, we’ve earned the title “Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) 10.8″ in addition to the “Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) 10.8″ title. I prepared for the exam by:

• Taking the Mountain Lion 201 course at LAI (Learning Associates International) in Schiedam by instructor Maurits Sanders.
• Studying the powerpoint handouts from the course.
• Studying a document with screenshots from the course.
• Studying the book : Apple Pro Training Series: OS X Server Essentials: Using and Supporting OS X Server on Mountain Lion and performing the exercises in it. Note: because the Server app had just been updated, the paper version of the book was a bit outdated, but it did not really affect the exam.
• Studying the OS X Server: Advanced Administration resources.
• Creating a testing environment and playing around in it.
• Testing my knowledge with practice exams in the app Revise IT.
• Studying the Exam Preparation Guide

In my opinion the exam was relatively easy. It was key to read the questions and answers very well though.

If I have some time, I’ll try to make a summary similar to the one I did for the “OS X Support Essentials 10.8″ exam.

 

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 is released with official support for Windows 8 through bootcamp

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 has been released and includes official support for Windows 8 through bootcamp. For the full list of changes, take a look at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5612

 

Microsoft – Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V 3.0 best practices checklist

Roger Osborne has posted a great article with a Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V best practices checklist.

I especially like the fact that it’s not just a checklist, but it also explains what it does and why it is considered a best practice to do it this way (in specific situations).

Additionally you might also want to take a look at “Top 20 Hyper-V Performance Metrics You Should Care About” and System Center Advisor.

 

PowerShell – Book review of : Learn PowerShell Toolmaking in a month of lunches

At the end of February I published a review of “Learn Windows Powershell 3 in a month of lunches”. Even though it is a well written book from which I learned a couple of things, it did ‘t increase my productiviteit with PowerShell as much as I had wanted. This is probably due to the Windows PowerShell knowledge I already had.

I decided to read “Learn Windows PowerShell Toolmaking in a month of lunches” next and I have to say this was exactly what I needed … and more.

I think it really made my scripts more flexible and easier to maintain and manage. It was also great to see how easy it can be to create a GUI version of your PowerShell script. I will try to post some scripts and GUI examples to my blog soon so you can be the judge .

There were also some things that weren’t (yet) relevant to me, but it is good to be aware of them and being able to revisit them when necessary.