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Tablet Sales Declining But There is Hope for Workplace Tablets: Research

Tablet Sales Declining But There is Hope for Workplace Tablets: Research

Staff Reporter

There has been a big decline in the sales figures of the tablet industry. Though the device has become wildly popular during the beginning of the 21st century, it lost its appeal after smartphones got bigger and bigger.

Additionally, tech companies started incorporating smartphone-like capabilities of laptops making them thin, light and more accessible. With the laptop-tablet intersection, the market for tablet users is becoming smaller.

Gartner and IDC, a premier global market intelligence firm, reported that the tablet shipment and sales for 2014 has a lowered growth rate of 11 percent. IDC also forecasted that the shipment growth will grow about 12.1 percent in June but will rapidly decline to 6.5 percent in September.

"Tablet penetration is high in the U.S. -- over half of all households have at least one -- which leads to slow growth...," Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at Gartner, said in an interview.

Kitagawa added that a smartphone is becoming the necessary tool for everyday life while tablets are being left behind. He noted that tablet capabilities can also be done on laptops so their interrelation makes it harder for the device to stand out.

In a Kantar survey, 20,000 people were asked if they would buy a tablet next year. However, only 13 percent of the sample said they would definitely or probably buy a tablet device next year. On the other hand, the big chunk of 54 percent of the responders said they are not interested in buying. Additionally, out of the 13 percent who voted yes, 97 percent of them said they are still happy with their laptops.

Nonetheless, IDC points out on their prediction that tablets can focus on a niche market: the workforce. According to their forecast, the tablet market will grow by 20 percent by 2018 and most of these purchases will be coming from huge enterprises. 

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