We couldn’t agree more with this reprint of a recent TechNewsDaily report

The success of Apple’s iPad has made consumers keen for tablet computers in general, and worldwide shipments of these devices will jump six times by 2014, according to recent analyst reports.

In a survey of nearly 13,000 consumers in 14 countries, 51 percent familiar with e-readers or tablet computers said they planned to purchase one within a year, while 73 percent said they planned to buy such a product within three years.

“The survey suggests that e-readers and tablets are not a niche product for early adopters but could become the MP3 players of this decade. Grandmothers will soon be carrying them around,” said John Rose of The Boston Consulting Group, which conducted the survey, in a statement.

The survey’s findings jibe with IDC’s prediction that shipments of portable personal computers will spike from 7.6 million this year to 46 million by 2014.

The market will grow as many other major computer and technology companies, including Dell, Sony, Samsung, and Google, have expressed interest in coming out with their own tablet computers in the near future.

However, two big players in this field – HP and Microsoft – recently shelved their post-iPad bids for a share of the tablet marketplace.

Dollars down, sales up

Apple, for its part, sold one million iPads just in the first month of its release through early May.

Key to tablets such as the iPad continuing to go gangbusters will be an anticipated drop in their retail price. The iPad presently goes for $499 on up to $829 for the deluxe version with the most memory capacity and 3G wireless service.

“As with other major mass market consumer devices the prices will come down,” Rose told AFP. “They always do . . . I expect you’ll see the prices come down in the next 12 to 18 months. The first iPod was a $400 device so there’s no reason why we won’t see the same cycle.”

A well thought out Datamation article entitled, “Top Five Thin Client Hardware Vendors“,  by Jeff Vance, resonates with our thinking, more specifically in the last paragraph of the last page, “Finally, while Apple has never claimed to be a thin client vendor, the iPad could well be the pioneering thin client for consumers. Sure, there’s more onboard horsepower than you’d normally associate with a thin client, but perhaps the iPad points the way to a computing category that’s not quite thin, not that fat, way too expensive, but popular nonetheless.” We couldn’t agree more.

As CEOs begin to spend again on IT, they’re also looking for offerings to keep their costs down, which is creating opportunities for desktop virtualization vendors, according to analysts.

We think the timing for this important release couldn’t be better. Read more about it in eWeek here…

Zero-client vendor, Pano Logic’s product is offering tighter integration with VMware’s View desktop virtualization platform as well as support for Microsoft’s Windows 7 in Pano System 3.0.

Pano Logic is releasing the latest version of its zero-client desktop virtualization offering, offering tighter integration with VMware’s View and support for Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.

Pano System 3.0, released April 14, also offers other new features as well, including the ability for users to reboot their virtual machines, or to lock their desktop and access a new one if a problem arises. This way, the user can continue working while enabling the IT department to examine the one with the problem.

Channel Insider published an excellent article on zero client, thin client, desktop virtualization options here…

“After 2009’s recession delays, zero-client, thin-client and desktop-virtualization technologies are poised to infiltrate companies, from the enterprise to the midsized organization to small business. Here’s Channel Insider’s guide to the technology, the trends, the turf wars and the promise.”

Further fueling the interest in zero-client solutions is the escalating costs of deploying and managing PCs, now estimated to be in the range of $4,000 to $6,000 per year, according to Gartner and IDC. Those same research companies estimate that a VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) can save upwards of 70 percent over the support and maintenance costs of desktop PCs. Those are numbers that are sure to attract the attention of C-suite executives.

It doesn’t matter if you call it PC-over-IP, zero footprint PC, zero-client computing or just plain dumb terminal computing, the computing endpoint is undergoing a major change. Virtual desktop infrastructure from Wyse Technology, Pano Logic and Teradici may soon eliminate conventional PCs.

Read more about replacing desktop pc’s with zero client solutions here…