Tablets to eclipse e-book readers
Thanks to Amazon and pals' focus on the US
Tablets will outsell e-book readers this year, and will continue to put even more distance between the two gadgets over the next two years.
By 2012, tablets will outsell readers four to one.
So says market watcher IDC, which is expecting sales this year of 17m iPads, Galaxy Tabs and co., and 10.8m Kindles and its like.
Here's how it anticipates shipments panning out in 2011 and the year after:
Data source: IDC
There's a very strong US bias in the e-book reader market. IDC said it expects 72.4 per cent of e-book reader shipments to have gone into the US - 7.8m units. Compare that to the 40 per cent of tablets that were US-bound - 6.8m, a smaller total.
All of which goes to show the likes of Amazon and Barnes & Noble, big US booksellers both, have done well selling to their local audience, but by all but ignoring the rest of the world have allowed tablets to dominate internationally.
Ditto Pandigital, an e-book reader maker that focuses on the US, and which took 16.1 per cent of the global market in Q3 2010, second only to Amazon, which notched up a 41.5 per cent share on shipments of 1.1m units. Pandigital shipped 440,000 units, Barnes & Noble 420,000.
After Amazon, the best-known e-book reader maker in the UK is Sony. IDC reckons it shipped 230,000 readers worldwide in Q3 2010, 8.4 per cent of the total.
Third-quarter figures are one thing, but for consumer-centric gadgetry like tablets and e-book readers you really need to look at the Q4 2010 numbers - the shipments made in time for Christmas sales, whether of tablets or e-book readers. These stats aren't out yet - we'll cover them when they are.
Big holiday sales will certainly boost the e-book reader biz, but if IDC's figures are broadly correct, punters will soon favour tablets over readers as Christmas prezzies. ®
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COMMENTS
dunno about that
If you want to read books, you won't get red eyes reading on a kindle. A backlit screen forces you to look away/move your eyes every couple of minutes and makes you more tired.
so much that I am transitioning towards buying myself a kindle...
Re: dunno about that
Having used a Kindle for a few weeks now, I can't see it being replaced by a tablet, although I might get a tablet as well at some point. It is a pleasure to use a device where the first thought is not where the power socket it and is easy on the eyes.
I think that there are limits to convergence. I can see Tablets replacing Netbooks, as many of the functions are similar. I won't be replacing my Thinkpad with a tablet as I want a big screen and keyboard for writing reports and working on spreadsheets when travelling. This means that the household will end up with PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, MP3 players and Kindles. A common power supply for them all would be good though!
In other news...
... apples to outsell oranges.
Consumers buy book readers as they are terrific devices on which to read books, eink displays, 1 month battery life etc.
Consumers buy tablets as they are terrific devices to do things that don't quite warrant firing up the laptop, bit of facebook, quick email and a trip to you tube
I can access the internet on my Kindle... it drives me batshit within five seconds.
I can read books on my tablet... it will send me blind in 5 seconds.
apples / oranges
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