According to Gartner, the global tablet sales reached 195.4 million units in 2013, witnessing a 68 per cent growth over 2012.
While sales of tablets based on iOS (Apple?s operating system) grew in the fourth quarter of 2013, its share declined to 36 per cent in 2013. The tablet growth in 2013 was driven by the low-end smaller screen tablet market, and first time buyers. Android based operating system was the leading tablet operating system with 62 per cent market share. Despite being the most preferred operating system, in 2013, the share of Apple?s iOS declined by 16.8 percentage points as the market demand was driven by the improved quality of smaller low-cost tablets from branded vendors, and white-box products continued to grow in emerging markets.
The research firm states that emerging markets reported 145 per cent growth in the sales of tablets in 2013, while mature markets grew 31 per cent. In 2013, Apple led the tablet market followed by Samsung in the second position. Increasingly, the tablet segment is becoming a challenging market for branded hardware-driven players. They are being impacted by service-driven and content-driven players, and aggressive prices from white-box vendors.
Gartner concludes that going forward as the Android-based tablet market becomes highly commoditised, in 2014, it will be critical for vendors to focus on device experience and meaningful technology and ecosystem value – beyond just hardware and cost to ensure brand loyalty and improved margins.
