Research firm Gartner reported that global media tablet sales are expected to reach 19.5 million units this year and up to 208 million units in 2014. Gartner said that major sales were also driven by the Apple’s iPad which has taken over the tablet market. The company also said that by 2011, a 181 percent increase in sales will be witnessed by the market.
Of all the sales the US is expected to account for 61 percent of tablet sales this year. However Gartner said in its research report that the US share in sales will shrink to 43 percent in 2014. It is amazing to note that the market has not reached its peak and there was steady growth predicted all through 2011. All this while PC sales seem to slow down in 2010 from 17 percent to 15.3 percent.
Notebooks also have a strong market ahead. Tablets will not replace notebooks anytime soon and this would help notebook companies thrive. Gartner also said that due to increasing competition prices for notebooks will drop well below $300.
A legion of hybrid laptop/tablet devices are being thrown into the market, riding the wave of the trendy but not-so-business-friendly iPad whilst trying to overcome the tablet’s limitations in a bid to conquer a place in the corporate world. Will they represent the future of business mobile computing?