IDC or International Data Corporation is one of the premier providers of market intelligence and forecasting data. According to the latest report published by them, the calender year 2013 saw the tablet market in India reach new heights with year on year growth of about 56%.
With more than 4.14 Million tablets shipped, 2013 was a record breaking year as far as tablets in India go. The report analyses that while the bulk of this volume was driven by low end/spec’d tablets, the tablet market struggled to keep the momentum as the figures took a dip towards the second half of the year despite that being the festive time in India, which saw several big players such as Apple, Samsung and Google lay out attractive discounts for the consumers. While the Q1 and Q2 combined oversaw shipment of more than 2484 thousand tablets, the second half of the calender year could only rake up 1665 thousand shipments. (image:pointgphone)
According to Karan Thakkar, a Senior Market Analyst for IDC, the main culprit for this undercutting of numbers was the growing acceptance of phablets among the masses. He said, “The popularity of phablets has in fact crossed over the demand for 7 inch tablets. For a price conscious market like India, it is about owning a combination device, meeting the needs with one device instead of two. Also, the return rates on low cost 7 inch tablets have been unexplainably large. First time users latching onto such devices are now looking to move to products that offer better experience in terms of life span and quality”
As far as the big vendor numbers are concerned, Samsung remained the player to beat with around 18.7% market share, while Micromax came in close second at about 8.9%. The industry leader, Apple saw 7.5% market share in India which is a massive improvement over their numbers in 2012. Aggressive marketing coupled with some very attractive discounts have been well documented in Apple’s approach in India and no wonder have driven the numbers northwards.
However, 2014 does not paint a very pretty picture for the tablet market and phablets are going to continue to dominate the market, at least according to Kiran Kumar, the Research Manager at IDC who said, “The Government mandate on BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) Certification mixed with the growing popularity of phablets is likely to obstruct the growth in the tablet category”.
What is the forecast for the tablet in market in 2014 according to you? Are you more likely to pick up a phablet ala Note III as compared to say an iPad Mini? Let us know your views in the section below or on our Social Profiles.
