Wired’s Anderson: Tens of millions of tablets will sell

Mediabistro/Webnewser
Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson points to three consumer trends that he says will drive “millions” of digital tablet sales this year and “tens of millions” in the coming years. Speaking to the American Association of Advertising Agencies Tuesday in San Francisco, he noted the iPhone has accustomed people to use mobile devices for computing; the Kindle has shown that people like devices that facilitate content; and cloud computing has reduced the need for local storage and computing power. As indicated in this week’s Project for Excellence in Journalism report, consumers are interested in convenience and on-the-go access to news and information. Anderson said this equation factors into his affinity for the tablet. “Every time I go on a business trip, I ask myself: ‘Is this trip where I don’t take my laptop?’ As my phone becomes more and more powerful, that becomes a valid question: Can I actually run my life on my phone? And the answer has been: Not quite yet.” Anderson believes tablets may shift that balance for many consumers.