Tablet Sales Will Continue to Strengthen, Says Research Firm
Consumers increasingly spending on tablets due to diversity and cheap price ranges.
With tablet sales topping that of laptops for the first time during October, a research firm has said that the commercial success of the product will continue to strengthen in the coming years.
Due to the greater variety and cheaper prices of tablets, IDC raised its forecast for the market for 2012 and beyond. It predicts worldwide tablet shipments reaching 122.3 million in 2012, representing an increase from its earlier forecast of 117.1 million units.
"Tablets continue to captivate consumers, and as the market shifts toward smaller, more mobile screen sizes and lower price points, we expect demand to accelerate in the fourth quarter and beyond," Tom Mainelli, IDC's research director for tablets, said.
"Android tablets are gaining traction in the market thanks to solid products from Google, Amazon, Samsung, and others," Mainelli added. "And Apple's November iPad Mini launch, along with its surprise refresh of the full-sized iPad, positions the company well for a strong holiday season."
It expects Android's worldwide tablet share for 2012 to reach 42.7 percent, an increase from 39.8 percent in 2011, while Apple's iPad sees its share dropping to 53.8 percent in 2012 versus 56.3 percent in 2011.
IDC also raised its forecast for worldwide tablet shipments in 2013 to 172.4 million units. By 2016, shipments should reach 282.7 million units. When the latter year does arrive, IDC predicts both Apple and Google will experience their share in the overall tablet market decreasing to 49.7 percent for iOS and 39.7 percent for Android.
As for Microsoft-based tablets, the company expects Windows tablets to increase its share in the market from 2.9 percent predicted for 2012 to 10.3 percent in 2016.

Why would anyone try to predict the cell phone market 4 years from now? Windows 7 is only 3.5 years old, and 4 years ago Android just became stable, 1.0.
So much has changed since then and no one could have predicted it 4 years in advance. This whole article is just one big grain of salt.
Dont have to be crysis or witcher 2, but at least baldurs gate, or dungeon keeper 1.
Ha...hahahahahhaa
Surface Pro will always remain a niche and will never be as cheap and efficient as a real tablet.
Hey Cats-Paw, have a look at Splashtop THD, it plays your PC games with customisable on screen controls, you need a tegra 3 device (I recommend the ASUS Infinity) and you can use the Asus Transformer Keyboard to play these games as well as a USB mouse
Also check out the Razer Project Fiona
Data based evidence speaks louder than conjecture and heresy... Just because the data supports your conjecture or hypothesis doesn't make the cost associated with proving these ideas any less valuable...