The tablet market is a market we all have seen, been curious and explorative about since it was in the nascent stages.
A few facts about the tablet market are pretty well known. These are – the iPad rules the tablet market, Android is growing as a competitor and there is a faintest possibility that tablets might trump PC’s and notebooks one day. But really, in this tablet downpour, the questions remain – what kind of future are we hoping for with the tablet market? Will the tablet like, many devices in the past, one day become the stuff of folk role? Most importantly, are tablets meant to be taken seriously?
Well, the thing is, the tablet is slowly building up its own niche. It is hardly trying to replace phones or PCs, which have both become a necessity more than anything else, but trying to create its own place. Yes, right now, people are hopping on slowly to the tablet bandwagon, but it is starting to get more commonplace.
Research firm Gartner says that this year, the tablet market will end up with 118.9 Million users, up from just 60 Million users last year.
And why not? There are reasons to support this theory. A tablet gives you better features and usability than a phone and is still more portable than the standard PC. It is available in a quite vast range to suit your tastes, affordabity and address all your concerns. It definitely can be more attuned to a user’s needs than a PC or a phone – an example of this would be the Micromax Funbook or even the HCL Me U1, which are designed specifically to cater to students.
In India, the tablet market was on a high when Aakash was announced and now that it has turned into a debacle, the hype has died down. But we firmly believe that the tablet market still has much potential and will continue to grow.
Until now, we only have the iPad and Android tablets as major competitors. But with the introduction of Windows 8 tablets even this is set to change.
In the end, a remark from Mr. Tim Cook, CEO, Apple, sums it up.” We thought… from the beginning of this that it would be a huge market, and it has been even greater than we thought. And it’s pretty clear to me that if you forecast out in time that the tablet market — I still believe it will be larger than the PC market. That’s not a guidance number. That’s just something that I very much believe. There will be many, many more people that can access it, and the ease of use is so phenomenal that it is indeed, a huge opportunity”.