Tablets seem to be the new love interest for the Indian consumer. As per
a report of Cyber Media Research (CMR) in the Calendar year 2012, a
whopping 3.11 million units of tablets were shipped in India.
Furthermore, 1.09 million of these tablets were shipped in the fourth
quarter (October to December) of 2012.
According to CME report,
Samsung is the leader in the tablet category with 25.1 percent share for
the CY 2012. At second spot is Micromax with 14.3 percent market share.
Apple with 9.1 percent market share was at the third spot.
Talking
about the growth in the Indian tablet market, Faisal Kawoosa, Lead
Telecoms Analyst, CMR said, "The year 2012 and particularly the last two
quarters (3Q 2012 and 4Q 2012) were significant for the India tablets
market. We have seen the market for these devices grow substantially in
2012, particularly in the second half which made up for over 70 percent
of the total sales."
To this Tarun Pathak, Telecoms Analyst, CMR
added, "Samsung has been able to maintain the lead in the market only
because of the first-mover advantage with the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy
Note II. But this is not a sustainable strategy in the long term, as it
has resulted in creation of the new 'phablet' form factor, attracting
competitors at both ends of the price spectrum to follow suit. With the
entrance of Apple at the top end and multiple Chinese and Indian players
at the entry-level, the phablet segment is only going to see increased
competition in the foreseeable future."
CMR report also states
that, 'phablets' as a category constituted around 16.5 percent of the
tablet market in 2012 and CMR expects this trend to grow further in the
coming quarters. Given the number of devices that are being launched
under the 'phablet' category, CMR is planning to have separate segment
for them going forward.
A tablet for every budget