Alone during CES, 80 tablets were already launched. But how are the relations in the world of tablets, is Apple still lonely at the top? Forrester Research recently released a new report, containing the revised forecasts for the growth of the tablet market in the United States and Europe.
Impressive figures
Forrester has adjusted its previous forecast because it expects an even bigger growth as a result of new entrants that increase the total market for tablets. Impressive figures in order to stand still, especially with regard to the figures that the newcomers have been able to achieve.
Apple is lonely and has sold 55 million iPads to consumers and businesses worldwide, in 90 countries. When asked which brand of tablet people have, 73% answered the Apple iPad, and the numbers two, three and four (HP, Samsung & Motorola), respectively, had only 6, 5 and 4% marketshare.
Forrester predicts that by 2016 tablets will reach 112.5 million Americans, a third of the U.S. population. For Europe (EU-7) Forrester expects 105.7 million tablet users in 2016, of which over 30% aged 16 or older. It is expected that starting from 2016 alone, 60.3 million tablets will be sold to within America annually.
War of the plaforms: the market is bigger than Apple and Android
When it comes to hardware brand (not operating system) there is a big gap between Apple and the number two. The reason is the fragmentation of Android on the various manufacturers: HP, Motorola, Samsung, Acer, LG, etcetera. These are all producers who seem to compete with Apple on hardware level, in which they have not yet yielded large shares.
For consumers, according to Forrester hardware is not the main reason for choosing a particular brand, but such a decision is much more closely related to service. In the U.S. The examples of those who did manage to capture a (significant) market share within a short time entered the fight especially on price and service, not on hardware level. Both Amazon with its Kindle Fire as well as Barnes & Noble with their Nooks have been able to sell large numbers of tablets from the added value of (new) services and above all an interesting, lower price.
Competing on service level
These newcomers can compete price of hardware because their business model is mainly based on putting away (additional) services. Think of all the additional income through Amazon with its own tablet. In Q4 2011 Amazon sold 5.5 million tablets, while Barnes & Noble has already sold 3 million.
Forrester recommends that a cheaper Apple iPhone will be put on the market to steal away a share of the price competitive entrants. It would also be a tablet of smaller size, because 26% of respondents indicates to prefer a smaller than 10 inch display.
The market for tablets is bigger
According to Forrester, the tablet market will grow. There will not necessarily be taken share away from Apple, but the total volume of the market seems to be growing. Forrester indicates there are two reasons for this:
The newcomers expand the market because they offer the tablets for a lower price and hence a larger group of people is interested in the product. They can do this because they build on their own content and services, and even can make a loss on selling the tablets. Thus, these newcomers are service-driven and not hardware-driven.
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