According to analyst firm IDC’s EMEA Quarterly Media Tablet Tracker program, media tablets reached a volume of close to 6 million units in EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Asia) in 2010, representing a third of worldwide sales.
Driven by the unprecedented success of Apple’s iPad, media tablets continue to drive major demand traction and a momentum not only likely to be maintained but to accelerate this year, with IDC projecting over 22 million tablets to be shipped in 2011 across the EMEA region.
Following the stellar uptake of Apple’s iPad last year, with the vendor selling close to 5 million units in EMEA, and further market expansion expected this year in terms of product offering as all vendors bring their products to market, and with Apple just releasing the iPad 2, demand for media tablets is expected to be further boosted in 2011. Adoption will continue unabated in Western Europe with continued uptake across all key countries, including the UK, France, and Germany, and any other countries where the iPad and other products are available, while demand will also gradually increase in Central Eastern Europe and Middle East and Africa (CEMA) as products become available and add incremental volumes.
“IDC forecasts the EMEA media tablet market to more than triple in 2011 to reach 22 million units,” said Eszter Morvay, research manager at IDC’s EMEA Personal Computing group. “A plethora of new products is expected to hit the market in the coming months and will drive further buoyancy around the media tablet category and create an additional demand vacuum in the second half of 2011 for the back-to-school and next Christmas seasons.”
While Apple currently claims over 80% of the market, competition, however, will increase as more products come to market. While most vendors were quick to develop and announce products, many opted to wait for the release of the new Android 3.0 Honeycomb version before introducing their products. As a result, Samsung was the only main competitor to Apple in 4Q10 with the 7″ Galaxy Tab.
Several other Asian and local European vendors, including Archos, Viewsonic, and Elonex, also went ahead and generated incremental volumes. With the arrival of the new Google Android operating system, however, IDC expects traditional PC vendors, including Acer and Asus, to make a strong push in the market, while Samsung will further expand by launching a new 10in. version of the Galaxy Tab. HP and RIM will come to market soon with their respective Web OS and BlackBerry OS and will also add to the competitive environment.
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