BusinessWeek depicts Steve Jobs and the iPad as sending destruction to Taiwan, causing a crisis for both Asustek and Acer (and eventually leading to Acer's to suddenly resign). Meanwhile, reports HP's consumer PC sales down 12% and Dell's consumer revenue down 8%.

As a result of the slow growth, PC sales estimates are being downgraded. In March, Gartner cut its 2011 PC unit growth forecast a whole five percentage points, from 15.9% to 10.5%, according to . Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore likewise reduced his non-tablet PC unit growth rate estimate for 2011 from 9% to a terribly low 4%, according to .

The cause? You guessed it. Whitmore estimated that around 30% of iPad owners are using it as a laptop replacement, rather than a supplement. Morgan Stanley analysts also confirmed this trend in September, reporting that the iPad cannibalized 25% of the laptop market since the tablet was first announced (see chart at left).

Even worse news for PC makers is that the tablet market is only growing faster. eMarketer, as quoted in BusinessWeek, estimates a 178% growth rate for tablets this year, with Apple maintaining a 74% share of the market.

Perhaps truly already has begun. Computer manufacturers are now racing to get their into consumers' hands.