Apple

[Vanraw]

Tablets are a bit trickier, because there is no subsidy (unless maybe you're getting a 3G or 4G plan). I think the cycle will be less than laptops or desktops (because tablets are cheaper and, right now, "cooler"), but more than cell phones. Maybe every 3 years.

Cooler yes, cheaper?? No. You can get a solid laptop for a couple hundred less then the ipad3 pricing.

I agree on the phones though. But I think your going to continue to see carriers pull away from that. Keep in mind that its all about sticky glue for the carriers. They have always struggled with people hopping from carrier to carrier every 2 years. One of the motivations for VZ and ATT to move away from the unlimited data plan, was to create sticky glue or the existing customer base. Ie, if you are a vz customer and have an unlimited plan, why would move to ATT and get a 2 gig max for the same price?

They are leveraging this. Providing they dont start bleeding customer base to Sprint and tmobile look for them to pull back more and more on the subsidized phones. IPhone the most since there are margin issues there anyway.