14 DAY TRIAL // Tablets may be stealing the market share of netbooks, but the target consumer base is not the only thing these two product types have in common, as one might perceive from a new report.
As early as their emergence, tablets showed clearly that the users inclined to buy them were the same ones that used to be interested in netbooks.
This is because netbooks are usually bought as secondary systems by those that already have a notebook and/or desktop.
As such, those users already have a PC with a physical keyboard, so they can easily decide that they cam do without one, so long as the slate is capable enough.
However, it looks like the slate phenomenon is taking on such proportions that the rate at which new products come out might backfire.
In fact, Digitimes reports that something like this is exactly what will happen if everyone intent on releasing a new slate does so on time.
More specifically, there will be such a flood of slates on the market that there won't be enough people to buy them all, leading to oversupply.
Granted, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer might suggest that the chance for this isn't so high, what with the shortages.
Nevertheless, most slates will be launched near the end of the second quarter, in June, so if excess inventories do become a problem, it will happen only in the second half of the year.
Among the better known companies scheduled to enter the race are MSI, Gigabyte, Acer, ASUS and ViewSonic, all of them preparing Android or Windows models, or both.
It should also be noted that Motorola and Samsung are already not enjoying very good sales, and this might happen to the companies listed above as well.
Depending on how complicated the competition gets, some companies might start to retreat from this competition during the fourth quarter of the year.