Tablets take off

Beverley Head
Wednesday, 16 February 2011 15:08

IT Industry - Market

Far from being a fad, tablet computers - which represented just 4 per cent of PCs sold in 2010 - will double their market share to 8 per cent this year and command around 16 per cent of the market by 2014.

According to Frost & Sullivan's 2011 forecasts which it released in Sydney today, demand for mobile computers will also continue to rise and command 63 per cent of the market compared to 57 per cent last year. The desktop PC meanwhile will continue its long slow slide, expected to account for just 22 per cent of PC sales by 2014.

This migration to mobility - coupled with the burgeoning smart phone market - will have a profound effect on telecommunications companies according to the analyst. By 2015 Frost & Sullivan claims that there will be twice as many mobile broadband users as fixed broadband users.

According to Frost & Sullivan partner and head of ICT practice, Nitin Bhat; 'The value of mobility far exceeds the incremental bandwidth in home high speed broadband network.' NBN naysayers however should not consider this as the death knell for the organisation.

Mr Bhat indicated that purely commercial business cases for fibre to the premises high speed broadband networks did not stack up; 'that is why you need one player and Government participation,' he said.

Waiting for the industry to go it alone to develop FTTP networks was not realistic. Instead he said that over the next decade broadband networks would be increasingly recognised as a 'national utility and GDP accelerator.'

Telecommunications companies in general however were warned to prepare for challenging times ahead as more mature growth rates of 4-5 per cent a year took hold through the decade, far slower than the exuberant 12 per cent plus growth rates that the industry has more recently enjoyed. 'This is driving down margins dramatically,' said Mr Bhat.