Cambridge, Mass. – Sales of tablet computers are expected to
see a 42% compound annual growth rate through 2015, and are predicted to begin outselling
netbooks in 2012, according to a report from market research firm Forrester
Research.
Tablet sales are expected to hit 3.5 million units this year, and
grow to 20.4 million units in 2015, when they will constitute 23% of PC unit
sales.
Over the next five years, Forrester projects PC units sales — including
desktops, notebooks and laptops, tablets, and netbooks — will increase by 52%.
In 2015, notebooks are expected to lead U.S. sales (42%), followed by tablets
(23%), desktops (18%) and netbooks (17%).
"Tablet growth will come at the
expense of netbooks, which have a similar grab-and-go media consumption and Web
browsing use case as tablets but don’t synchronize data across services like
the iPad does," said Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps.
"Consumers didn’t ask for tablets. In fact, Forrester’s data shows that
the top features consumers say they want in a PC are a complete mismatch with
the features of the iPad. But Apple is successfully teaching consumers to want
this new device."
Related Links:
http://www.forrester.com/ER/Press/Release/0,1769,1340,00.html
http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/17/forrester-tablets-outsell-netbooks
