Global tablet revenues are now expected to reach $49 billion by 2015, according to an April 19 report from Strategy Analytics. Up from zilch in 2009, 2015 global revenues from the Apple iPad and its legion of followers, said the research firm, "will exceed those of every consumer electronics category except TVs and PCs by 2015."
Markets in North America, Asia Pacific and Western Europe are expected to lead this massive growth in tablet revenue.
"Tablets are a high-value casual-computing segment that is creating huge growth opportunities for major brands such as Apple and Samsung," Strategy Analytics Director Neil Mawston said in a statement.
"We predict 80 percent of the value of the tablet market in 2015 will reside in both high-tier and entry-tier models, as tablets address the opportunities in other developed and emerging markets such as the Asia Pacific region,” Mawston added.
In a Feb. 14 report, Morgan Stanley further highlighted Asia’s expected role in the market’s growth, estimating that over the next 12 months, China will account for 41 percent of tablet shipments. The United States, following behind sales from Japan and much of Europe, was slated to account for 11 percent.
Strategy Analytics Associate Director Martin Bradley appears to concur. "In terms of revenues, the largest opportunity for tablet vendors will be in North America, Asia Pacific and Western Europe," he said in the statement. "Although the average selling prices in Asia Pacific will be less than 85 percent of those in Western Europe by 2015, the total value of the Asia Pacific region will exceed Western Europe by this time."
While this year’s tablet market promises to be packed with competitors from PC giants Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Sony, Lenovo and Dell, as well as smartphone makers Samsung, Motorola, HTC and Research In Motion, the Apple iPad–the device that reinvented the form factor and launched the market–is expected to continue to dominate, at least according to Gartner.
For more, read the eWEEK article: iPad, Tablet Revenue to Reach $49 Billion by 2015: Strategy Analytics.
