There’s no question that the PC industry has taken a back seat to the tablet phenomenon. Many PC companies, with the exception of Apple, have not participated relevantly in the tablet discussion. Part of this is because many of them have been extremely focused on their core business, which is notebooks and desktops, but it is also due to the lack of a viable tablet platform. Android is doing well with 7-inch tablets and has had some success with 10-inch models due to Samsung’s efforts. Other than that, there are very few Android tablet volume success stories. Many in the PC industry were waiting for Windows 8 to hopefully give them a fighting chance with tablets. It’s becoming clear, however, that Windows 8 is giving vendors an opportunity to invest and compete in an entirely new category with hybrids and convertible PCs. (MORE: For What It’s Worth: Microsoft Has Sold 40 Million Windows 8 Licenses) At this years CES I’m expecting to see a wealth of innovation around the PC form factor. I have written about hybrids often here at TIME and the examples we have to date are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the exciting innovations around the corner with respect to this new category. Truthfully, the PC industry needs the spark of innovation from this new category to help stabilize years of declining PC sales. The PC industry has remained relatively steady in its annual worldwide sales volume. There were a few years when annual worldwide sales eclipsed 400 million, but as of late, our industry average has been in the 350-380 million range. From our firm’s perspective, we don’t see this changing, meaning we don’t see the pie or total addressable market for traditional PCs growing. All of the recent growth from an industry standpoint is coming from tablets. (MORE: Why We Need a New Definition of ‘PC’) The reality is that the PC industry built its business around a predictable hardware refresh rate of between 2-3 years. Now the average time consumers are