If first decade of 21st century marked the rise of mobile population in India, the coming decade will surely be of ‘Tablet’ devices. And as pre-bookings of World’s Cheapest tablet has already been closed down, world is eagerly waiting to get its hands-on “Aakash”.
The rapid adoption of mobile broadband and smartphones has led to the launch of tablets by a number of vendors. The arrival of tablets inIndiahas ushered in an exciting new era for mobility devices. Tablets have gained acceptance in the market due to their favorable form factor and advanced functionalities. Apart from global vendors like Apple, Samsung, RIM, and Motorola, entry of Indian players like Reliance Communications and Beetel has led to intense competition in the market. Today we have tablets priced from INR 4,500 to 46,900, excluding the INR 2999 Aakash Ubislate7. With increasing focus on the tablet PC market, many Indian and Chinese vendors like Micromax, G’Five, and Karbonn etc. are also likely to enter the fray.
According to a Frost & Sullivan research, the tablet PC user base inIndiais expected to increase from 0.06 million in 2010 to 0.3 million in 2011. The overall tablet PC user base is likely to grow at a CAGR of 107 percent to reach 23.38 million by 2017.
“Though the tablet ecosystem is at a nascent stage, the proliferation of tablets is expected to increase significantly with the launch of faster data technologies and growing awareness among customers. The success of tablets in India would depend on affordability, applications with vernacular support, and quality data connectivity”, observes Abhishek Chauhan, Senior Consultant, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia and Middle East,
The increasing adoption of 3G services and the impending launch of 4G LTE services inIndiawill positively affect data usage in the country. Ensuring the availability of seamless Internet connectivity at nominal prices will drive the tablet PC sales.
Globally, the tablet application ecosystem is underdeveloped, and there is lack of support for developing apps and services for the tablet form factor. Providing dedicated, localized, and vernacular content and applications will help create a market for tablet PCs inIndia. With decreasing prices, tablet PCs will find use not only in the infotainment and enterprise segments, but also in verticals like education.
Market Engineering Research for Tablet PC Market inIndiais a part of the Smartphone Market Outlook reasearch study. Mobile & Wireless Growth Partnership Service program at Frost & Sullivan includes research in the following fields: Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS), Telecom Infrastructure Market, LTE and Overall Handset market. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.