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Android fuels MEA tablet surge

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 15 Dec 2014
Samsung remains the best-selling vendor in the region, shipping 996 000 units in the third quarter.
Samsung remains the best-selling vendor in the region, shipping 996 000 units in the third quarter.

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) tablet market showed strong year-on-year growth in the third quarter of 2014, spurred by a huge increase in shipments of Android-based devices.

This is according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), which has released its latest figures, showing the market expanded 29.6% in volume terms during the quarter to reach a total of 4.15 million units.

The growth was most evident in the consumer segment, where a number of IT festivals and back-to-school promotions across the region helped boost tablet demand. Victoria Mendes, research analyst for systems and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, said while iOS and Windows OS suffered year-on-year declines in the third quarter, shipments of Android tablets increased 47% over the same period.

"A number of local brands and low-cost Far-Eastern vendors aggressively shipped Android tablets to the region during the quarter. This in turn caused prices to decline even further, spurring yet more demand for these devices," she added.

Vendor battleground

After suffering a quarter-on-quarter slowdown in shipments in the second quarter, Samsung experienced a very good quarter in the third quarter, shipping almost a million units. The IDC said this represented growth on both the third quarter of 2013 (year-on-year) and the second quarter of this year (quarter-on-quarter). It also notes the vendor maintained its number one position in the region.

Apple remained in second place, as the 572 000 units it shipped was a decline both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. Lenovo was not far behind in third place, with its shipments for the quarter increasing to 525 000 units on the back of aggressive marketing and promotion campaigns across the region, adds IDC. Fourth-ranked Asus posted healthy growth to total 361 000 units, with the vendor aggressively shipping various low-cost models to the region during the third quarter, it notes.

Huawei secured fifth spot with the shipment of 81 000 units, representing a decrease on the second quarter, but an increase on the third quarter, notes the research. The IDC added, while the commercial segment suffered an overall slowdown during the third quarter, a number of significant deals were delivered to government entities and very large enterprises in the region.

And while there were no large tablet deliveries in the education sector, there was a deal for 11 000 two-in-one devices as part of the United Arab Emirates' ongoing 'Smart Learning Initiative'. Adriana Rangel, research director for systems and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, said two-in-one devices are expected to see strong growth from 2015 onwards.

"Most vendors are expected to add such devices to their portfolios as they continuously try to bridge the gap between tablets and PCs. And as two-in-one devices mainly come with large displays, we are expecting them to perform particularly strongly in the region's commercial segments".

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