We knew that the tablet industry was booming, but now we know how much – IDC predicts that Media tablets will experience a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54% in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region, multiplying nearly ten times to 21 million units from 2 million units shipped in 2010. In stark contrast, eReaders will carry a lower 18% CAGR as eReader are limited to a single function, one that media tablets cover anyways. The lack of localized content is one of the main reasons why eReaders have failed to take off as well as tablets, says Dickie Chang, Senior Market Analyst for Client Devices Research at IDC Asia/Pacific. In China for example, some consumers are still relying on pirated Internet downloads. Online bookstores haven’t been earning device vendors wide margins on content, and face aggressive iPad pricing, squeezing them further.”
Further delving into the report, IDC predicts that Apple will set the pace of the market for the next five years, and with competitors facing a stiff battle moving forward. Competitors to iPad must innovate ways to differentiate their products though, lest consumer interest wanes in favor of the next tech gadget. Some of this demand may be driven by the education sector, such as the Thai government’s recently announced plan to distribute 800,000 Android tablets to primary school students. While this latest announcement has not been yet factored into IDC’s forecast, there are certainly opportunities out there to keep driving media tablet growth,” adds Melissa Chau, Research Manager for Client Devices Research at IDC Asia/Pacific.