May 20, 2011 08:31 GMT  ·  By

Not counting the Apple iPad, tablets may not be selling that well at the moment, but it is generally accepted that this won't last long, although slates with PC-like feature sets are said to not have a very high marketing potential.

At the present time, the word tablet is used to describe what some see as two distinct product types.

One of them is the media slate which uses ARM-based mobile processors and a mobile operating system, as well as a touch panel as only means of input (if accessories, like detachable keyboards, are not available).

The other type is the PC tablet, which runs an x86 processor (Intel Atom or AMD Fusion) and uses a PC OS (Windows, Linux, Mac). The form factor can be of a slate or convertible tablet.

Market analyst firm iSuppli decided to look at the two and see how likely they are to outsell the other, the results being very much in the former's favor.

Basically, media slates will end up having sold about ten times more models than PC tablets once the 2010-2015 period has expired.

For those that want numbers, 88.8 million PC slates will ship, while media tablets will attain a sales figure of 888.7 million.

“While there’s clearly a need for tablet PCs with full PC functionality, the media-type tablet pioneered by the Apple Inc. with the iPad will reign supreme during for at least the next five years,” said Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor research at IHS.

“Because the tablet form factor will favor media consumption - rather than content creation - media tablets will massively outsell their PC-type tablet alternatives.”

The analyst firm says that PC tablets will not remain a presence on the market because they are suite for work environments where the “the slow boot-up time, the tendency to crash or freeze and the awkwardness of the touch integration” is outweighed by how they can handle “data input, analysis and creation-oriented tasks.”