Are we talking about a tablet revolution in near future?

Could tablet computers be the next big thing in India’s IT market? In the past two weeks, three companies have launched low-cost tablet computers to take on the likes of Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and grab buyers.

It’s a phenomenon reminiscent of the start of the mobile revolution: once tariff and device costs were slashed, consumers whole-heartedly embraced mobile phones over fixed-line phones.

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The most recent launch was by Lakshmi Access Communications Systems Pvt Ltd, a little-known firm, which introduced a 4.3-inch Magnum Pepper tablet computer running on Google’s Android operating system. The gadget is manufactured in China.

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The four-gigabyte tablet will work both on wireless Internet and third-generation (3G) networks, the company said. Earlier, Beetel Teletech, a unit of Bharti Enterprises, launched a Rs-9,999 tablet PC while Reliance Communications unveiled a Rs-12,999 model.

The launch of tablets by telecom companies also takes the competition between telecom service providers and hardware makers one notch up. According to analysts, telecom companies such as Reliance and Bharti are entering the tablet market because they are hoping to encourage more subscribers to sign up for their data plans. Until now, the key obstacle had been exorbitant gadget prices. India has 852 million mobile subscribers at the end of June, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

While it’s too early to judge the response, some analysts believe that cheap tablets are likely to become popular among middle class consumers. Of course, hardware makers disagree, claiming that extremely low-priced tablets will compromise user experiences and are, therefore, unlikely to trigger high demand.

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Around the world, so popular have tablet computers become that research firm Gartner lowered its view on global PC market growth for 2011 in June, saying consumers in developed markets were choosing tablets like Apple’s iPad’sover small laptops.For this year, the market research firm now projects global sales of 387.8 million personal computers, up 10.5 percent from 2010. Gartner’s old forecast was for 15.9 percent growth. For 2012, the firm now sees 13.6 percent unit growth, down from a previously expected 14.8 percent.

Earlier this year, the research firm said sales of tablet computers will more than quadruple from 15 million worldwide in 2010 to 70 million in 2011.

In India, the market for tablets has so far been dominated by relatively high-end gadgets from companies such as Samsung, Apple, Acer and BlackBerry. Apple, the world’s undisputed leader in tablet computers with a more than 70 percent market share, however, has not generated huge sales in the Indian market, which is known to be very price-conscious. Until the launch of the low-cost versions, most tablet computers in India (from well-known brands) were available for more than Rs 25,000.

Will the low-cost upstarts snatch market share from the Big Boys? We’ll soon find out.

For a media review of the Reliance tablet computer, click here. For more information on the different tablet computers available in the Indian market, click here.