Having recently reached an upward-turning inflection point, In-Stat foresees tablet shipments toward 250 million units in 2017. Price reductions, new tablets from the big consumer electronics companies will drive growth, says In-Stat in its “The Reality and Ramifications of Tablets” report.
“The tablet market and its associated ecosystem are still evolving. Over the next few generations we will see more differentiation between devices that are targeting different market segments and usage models. In addition, competitive device and service pricing will bring tablets into the mainstream consumer and enterprise markets,” said chief technology strategist Jim McGregor.
Among the findings in the report are:
- In the consumer segment, tablets are competing against all CE and computing devices, not just PCs.
- Despite similarities in system hardware and software architecture, usage models among mobile devices vary by device type.
- The combination of mobile applications, new semiconductor technology, and the full Internet experience are key factors in empowering the tablet market.
- The 9-inch to 11-inch form factor is forecasted to be the dominant tablet form factor with 56% of the market in 2017.
- iOS and Android are forecast to maintain over 90% of the market share with Windows as a distant 3rd.
- Not supporting one of the leading OS platforms is likely to lead to the failure of several companies in the tablet market due to lack of application support.
- Wireless operator business models could have a tremendous impact on future tablet demand.
