iPad rattles computer businesses

Few companies can disrupt an entire industry with a single product launch. But Apple Inc., whose history is filled with such game-changing moments, has done it again with its iPad tablet.

Few companies can disrupt an entire industry with a single product launch. But Apple Inc., whose history is filled with such game-changing moments, has done it again with its iPad tablet.

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Apple's iPad has rattled the technology world by causing many consumers to think twice about buying new personal computers, two market-research firms reported Wednesday.

That hesitation was one reason worldwide shipments of new PCs stumbled in the third quarter, growing more slowly than research firms IDC and Gartner Inc. had anticipated.