Global tablet shipments are expected to more than triple in 2011, rising to 57.6 million units, up from 17.1 million in 2010. Although iSuppli predicts that Apple will retain market dominance with 70.4% share of tablet shipments next year, the company will face mounting competition from new rivals producing consumption tablets, including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co., Research in Motion Ltd., Dell Inc. and dozens of other companies. But for now, Apple is expected to dominate tablet sales for the next two years.
“IHS believes that as these iPad competitors turn their focus to tablets, the demand for netbook and notebook displays will soften,” said Joe Abelson, vice president of displays at IHS, in the press release. “And because the tablet market is so new and volumes are unpredictable, display suppliers will be forced to gamble production capacity on the unrealistically high projections of their tablet customers. With different panel sizes and specs in play, the industry should expect to see significant inventory shortages and excesses to occur at the SKU level throughout 2011, potentially accompanied by heavy discounting or scrapping of unused displays.”
Such disruption should not come as a surprise given the revolutionary impact of the iPad on the global technology market. Not since the dawn of television in the 1950s has another electronic device so effortlessly captured the hearts, minds and discretionary spending of so many consumers, says iSuppli.
The tablet form factor once was dismissed by pundits as passing fancy and earlier models failed to garner interest among consumers. But the iPad changed everything. And now the device, along with other tablets, are lining up as standard equipment for virtually any application, from education and healthcare, to government and the military, to retail sales and, of course, the living room.
Source:iSuppli
MacDailyNews Take: Economies of scale.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]