Tablet sales grow as size, price shrink

The stampede to 7 inch tablet and other mobile devices is picking up speed and noise.Tablet shipments will surpass laptops this year and are forecast to outpace the combined PC market by 2015, says a report from research firm IDC.The surging tablet market will continue to soar this year, with shipments expected to rise 58.7 percent compared to the same time last year, IDC forecast this week.

Tablet shipments will reach 229.3 million worldwide, versus 144.5 million last year.The migration to tablets is a continuation of an “operating system shift” away from traditional desktop PCs to first Apple’s iOS (on iPad and iPhone) and now Android devices such as Samsung and HTC, said Charles King, principal analyst at market researcher Pund-IT.

IDC analyst Ryan Reith said that the shift to tablets “marks a significant change in consumer attitudes about computer devices and the applications and ecosystems that power them.”“For many consumers, a 10 inch tablets is a simple and elegant solution for core-use cases that were previously addressed by the PC,” Reith said.sd11C3deD

The rise in tablet use will be fueled by smaller devices with screens smaller than 8 inches.In 2011, tablets with screens between 8 and 11 inches — such as Apple’s popular iPad — commanded a 73 percent market share. By 2017, tablets in that range will dip to 37 percent.Meanwhile, tablets such as iPad Minis and Amazon Kindles with screens smaller than 8 inches will command 57 percent of the market share by 2017, up from 27 percent just two years ago.

Declining prices are accelerating the trend. The average price of a tablets for sale this year will drop to $381 from $423, while IDC said the average PC costs $635.The IDC forecast is another sign of the PC market’s struggles. In April, IDC reported PC shipments fell by the largest margin ever — 14 percent in the first quarter.“The PC is the equivalent of the landline phone,” analyst King said. “What do you need it for?”

Meanwhile, the company has been trying to shift its tablet offerings. IDC estimates that Microsoft shipped 900,000 of its Surface RT and Surface Pro 8 inch tablet during the first quarter, which doesn’t sound too bad. But because the company arrived at the party so late, it’s many miles from being a serious rival to the more serious players in the tablet space. Apple shipped nearly 20 million of its tablets, while Samsung managed almost 9 million over the period, according to the market researcher, which also noted that Microsoft had struggled to gain traction with its Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets.