14 DAY TRIAL // The tablet market has reached a stage where there is no question as to whether or not it will exist for a long time, to the point where market analysts are already looking five, six or more years into the future.
The way tablets have managed to reach a sort of standard price ($500) and are even touching on much lower tags (Indian stores are even selling $135 Froyo Tablets) made sure the product type is here to stay.
In-Stat thus decided to look ahead and try to guess how things will go on and what the market segment will look like in 2017.
Casting one's sight six years into the future is no mean feat, but it is something that analyst firms often try to accomplish.
The conclusion In-Stat, in this case, managed to reach was that 250 million will be shipped in total during that year, of which 56% will be 11-inch and 9-inch items.
“Tablets are joining an array of smart-connected devices that allow users almost unlimited access to content and communications,” stated Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat.
“These new devices mark a significant change in the value change of the electronics industry where the content and applications are now the key differentiators and innovation drivers.”
Android and iOS will, together, dominate the field, with a share of over 90%, while Windows-loaded slates will be left as a distant third contender.
Of course, it is possible that Windows 8, with its support for the ARM architecture, will take everyone by surprise and score many design wins quickly, but that remains to be seen.
“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,” McGregor concluded.