ITWire

In its latest market report, technology analyst firm, Telsyte, says that the tablet market is being shaped by three main trends - price competition, global litigation and growing mainstream user adoption – and it estimates that already penetration of tablets in the Australian market is at 15 percent of the population and could well be at 30 percent by the end of 2013.

Telsyte’s Research Director, Foad Fadaghi, says that media tablets are a rapidly growing opportunity for vendors and media organisations, and he predicts that within four years “half the population will be relying on such a device for a lot of their computing needs, covering education, entertainment, productivity and other applications.”

Price competition, according to Telsyte, is being facilitated by a range of new affordable models, including the recently released Google Nexus 7 (produced by Asus), with the devices typically coming without 3G or 4G radios making them less costly to produce.

Telsyte also anticipates that Apple will release a smaller form iPad in the second half of 2012 to address the changing market opportunity and that, similarly, Microsoft’s Windows 8 Surface RT tablets are expected to be competitively priced when released later this year. Wi-Fi-only media tablets are also growing in popularity with home usage emerging as the primary usage destination, according to Telsyte.

Meanwhile, as tablet sales go through the roof, Apple holds onto its Australian market leadership, with Telsyte estimating its share will remain around three quarters of the market for at least the next 12 months.