As the naysayers talk of the tablet’s tale coming to an end the results released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) indicate otherwise. According to the release that came out on 31 January, worldwide tablet shipments outpaced predictions with a record total of 52.5 million units worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2012.
These results are taken from preliminary data from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker which, I must confess, makes fascinating reading. The tablet market has grown 75,3% year over year and looks set to do some interesting things in 2013. What was really interesting about this report was that ASUS saw the highest year on year increase in the top five at 402.3%. That’s a whopping increase in market presence with a market share of 5.8% against the other members of the top five.
And those other members are certainly worthy competitors in the tablet arena and consist of Apple, Samsung, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Everyone else is simply categories as “Others”, an amusing definition for those sitting pretty in the upper tier, I’m sure.
The report clearly shows that the public interest in tablets has no intention of waning any time soon, but what will be interesting is seeing how the major league companies will hold consumer interest and what innovations they will unveil throughout this year. ASUS have already set the bar really high with the Padfone 2 and the ASUS Taichi – both of these products have taken the tablet concept to a new level. And one that the public has reacted to quite positively…
What next? Well, let’s see what the IDC unveils mid-year, perhaps those results will be even more revealing…
Mrs Mario
Mrs.Mario is a freelance journalist who loves to write about anything and everything. She accidentally fell into the cauldron of technology about eight years ago and has been slowly simmering in there ever since. She’s a geek but still has tons to learn about the wonderful world of technology. She also suffers from a rare disease known as “need to game” that demands it’s sufferers play at least one videogame a week. So far, she’s been coping with her ailment admirably.