When the iPad was announced on January 27, 2010 by Steve Jobs at an Apple press conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco there were multiple verdicts — Some said it would die out while others called it the new beginning to mobile computing. Soon came news that more tablets would flood the market by year end. No one believed. Now when the year is coming to an end, we see tablets launching every month from all major enterprises who either build smartphones or laptops. Why wouldn’t they? The tablet is an hybrid between a smartphone and a laptop. But, will it eat into either of their marketshare? The answer will come in the following years.
A report from eMarketer does give some insight into what might happen. The report states that tablet sales are expected to increase from an estimated 15.7 million in 2010 to 81.3 million in 2012, giving it a growth of over 400%.
iPad still holds the biggest marketshare at 85% and would continue to do so. but as the new entrants start spreading their wings, Apple’s share will drop to 74% in 2012. eMarketer also predicts that 20 million iPads will be sold in 2011 and in 2012 sales will surpass 30 million.
Up until now U.S. has been the major market for tablets, mainly because of shipment and network issues, but things are about to change soon. The report estimates that 62% of tablets sales in 2010 are from U.S., which is expected to come down to 50% in 2012.
All of these are predictions and might not come through as Apple has some worthy competitors coming its way — Samsung Galaxy Tab, Dell Streak, LG Optimus and many more who are still unnamed.
This growth in the tablet industry should be attributed to Google Android, the platform which powers most of the tablets from the other manufacturers. Such became the use of Android on tablets that Google announced a special Android for tablets — Honeycomb. You can see it in action in the video where Google’s Andy Rubin shows a Motorola Tablet Prototype.
But, then again, all of these are speculations and predictions. What will happen to the tablets will be revealed in the future. Do you think the growth predicted by eMarketer can be attained by the tablet industry?
