When Asus came with Eee PC towards the end of 2007, it changed the game of wireless devices. Consumers for the first time got the idea that wireless gadgets would not need to be so expensive just because they are portable.
While Acer, HP, Dell- everyone joined the netbook race, Apple stayed calm and at the beginning of 2010, introduced another game changer in the wireless industry- iPad. iPad is a tablet PC and it is indeed the best and most popular tablet PC. Hardly anyone could think that this device would sell in millions. After all, a tablet device does not have keyboard.
In between of Eee PC and iPad, Amazon tried to score some points with its e-book reader called Kindle. While iPad or tablet PC could not totally destroy the markets of netbooks or e-book reader, it could surely emerge as the market leader and 2011 will definitely be the year of tablet devices.
Realizing the potential of this market, most companies are going to bring out some cool gadgets in 2011. For example, Acer has already showed us some tablets both in Windows and Android Platforms. Asus is going to bring Eee Pad in the next few week and Asus is also going to bring tablets based on both Android and Windows platforms. Samsung is doing well with Galaxy Tab. Dell and HP both are active here too. Blackberry has launched PlayBook.
With these companies entering in this market, still it is not a crowded market and there is a lot of room for growth and diversity. For example, Microsoft can try some more to increase the market share of Windows based tablets. Google has been doing this job very actively and promoting Android aggressively.
I feel that the main room for growth is in Asia- particularly in Japan. Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, Toshiba- all these companies are yet to take the tablet market seriously. So, in Japanese market it is now becoming the race between products of two foreign companies- Apple and Samsung. In Korea, Samsung is doing well but LG is largely silent about this device.
What is clear is that in the next 4-5 years, tablets will continue to become more popular. So, it is the right time to enter to this market. After 4-5 years, the game will again change to something else. If you are not now in this market then you are going to be late indeed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment