Tablets To Raise 'Lite' OS Devices To 150 Mn In 2015

Global shipments of portable internet devices based on ’lite’ operating systems (OSs), which include tablet computers such as the iPad, will hit 150 million per year in 2015 according to Ovum. A new forecast predicts that 35% of global shipments in 2015 will be in the APAC region, a staggering growth from 2.8 million in 2010 to 52 million in 2015.

APAC markets are predicted to comprise 35% of the global total for tablets and other lite OS devices by 2015, up from 20% in 2010.The portable devices tracked in Ovum’s forecast are those that use ’lite’ OSs such as Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and RIM’s BlackBerry Tablet OS and include tablet devices such as the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the BlackBerry PlayBook as well as clamshell and convertible form factors.

“This huge growth in shipments will be dominated by tablet-style technologies such as the iPad and will mainly be driven by consumers buying devices to complement their smartphones. This will either be as a ’third device’ where there is a high-penetration PCs or the primary computing device where there is low-penetration,” said Tony Cripps, Principal Analyst, Ovum.

More from Biztech

Future Group - Reliance Retail Deal approved by CCI RBI ban on cryptocurrencies takes effect; prohibition could force investors to tap the black market

“Nonetheless, the greater ease of use of smartphones for the majority of consumers means that shipments of the tablet and other ’lite’ OS devices will not dramatically erode the growing demand for smartphones. This is especially pertinent given their obvious similarity in hardware and software technology,” said Cripps.

According to Ovum’s predictions, North America (23% of global shipments) and Western Europe (19%) will experience the greatest penetration of tablet and other mobile internet devices by 2015. However, the largest regional slice of shipments by the end of the period- due to the size of potential addressable markets and relatively low penetration of PCs (desktop and portable)- will be the APAC region, which will account for 35 per cent of all such device shipments in 2015.

Ovum’s figures also suggest that by end of the forecast period, Google’s operating systems, primarily Android but also likely to include Chrome OS, will dominate the market, pushing current frontrunner Apple’s iOS into second place.

Cripps explained: “We believe that Apple constituted 90% of the market in 2010. However, by 2015 we expect this market share to drop to 35% and Google’s market share to rise to 36%. Other software platforms, such as RIM’s Blackberry Tablet OS and HP’s webOS, will find some success but between them all they will only account for 29% of the market.

“This is because the dominant software platforms, Apple and Google, will attract the most attention from the cream of developers. As a result they will have the best, most talked about applications and content and, when all is said and done, this is what people will consider when making a purchasing decision.”