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Tablet market boom in MEA

Christine Greyvenstein
By Christine Greyvenstein, ITWeb journalist.
Johannesburg, 06 Jun 2013
Growing demand from the commercial sector is expected to drive tablet sales in the MEA region.
Growing demand from the commercial sector is expected to drive tablet sales in the MEA region.

A total of 2.25 million tablets were sold in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) in the first quarter of 2013. The latest report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) reveals the MEA tablet market saw growth of 184% year-on-year during this period.

Worldwide, tablet shipments reached an all-time high of 40.6 million units in the first quarter of 2013. According to research by Strategy Analytics, tablet shipments in the first quarter of 2012 were measured at 18.7 million.

The IDC also predicts global tablet shipments will grow by 58.7% year-on-year in 2013, to reach 229.3 million units. It also expects tablet shipments to surpass the shipment of portable PCs this year, as the PC market continues on a downward spiral.

Tablet boom

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says this is merely the beginning of the tablet market take-off. "There are now around 1.3 million tablets in use in SA. By the end of the year, it will be well over the two million mark."

Goldstuck says the booming sales figures show tablets have gone mainstream in SA, and the corporate world is rapidly embracing the apps concept. "This spells massive opportunity for developers who can deliver quality apps quickly and cost-effectively."

Research analyst for personal computing, systems and infrastructure solutions at the IDC, Victoria Mendes, adds that a growing demand from the commercial segment is expected in the coming years, especially within the education sector.

Future of the market

Goldstuck says, in SA, Apple's iPad is still king of the hill with about 50% of the market share, but adds Samsung is a formidable rival. "It offers options in every size format from 5.5-inch to 10.1-inch, and slate computers that take it to 11-inch. It has around a third of the market."

Research manager at the IDC, Fouad Charakla, adds the steady influx of Android and Windows 8 tablets will inevitably impact Apple's performance. "Apple's proprietary operating system, iOS, is expected to continue losing share across the MEA region. However, the rapidly growing demand for the iPad Mini is expected to enable the vendor's volumes to grow at a much faster pace than previously forecast."

The IDC believes the tablet market's growth will primarily be driven by the greater variety and availability of tablets offered at reduced prices. It also expects a shift from large screen devices to smaller screen like seven- to nine-inches due to price and portability.

Goldstuck says it's thus important to keep an eye on the big up-and-coming brands like Acer "especially with its low-cost Iconia B1 selling from R1 700, and Asus, with its youth-oriented Fonepad. Sony can be expected to make a big impact when its high-end Xperia Tablet Z is released here in July."

The IDC expects telecom providers to become an increasingly important distribution channel across the MEA region, offering tablets at reduced prices and providing instalment payment plans. It adds that Turkey and SA currently have the region's highest volume of tablet sales pushed through this channel.

The IDC predicts the tablet market will grow above and beyond the portable PC market within the next two years. But Goldstuck adds it's too soon to start thinking about saturation.

"And even when we do reach saturation, that should be compared to when computers reached a similar level of penetration: people enter a refresh and upgrade cycle which means that, once they are part of the tablet environment, they will not stick with the same tablet once it is perceived as obsolete. For some that is after a year, for others it will be more than three years," he says.

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