The research firm IDC has released a new report which predicts that sales of android tablets will surpass Apple’s iPads in 2013. According to it’s latest numbers, android tablets will capture 48.8 percent of the total number of tablets shipped in 2013. With Apple expected to drop from it’s 51 percent majority last year to 46 percent this year, android is looking to squeak out it’s first winning year of overall sales. And the total number of tablet sales for 2013 has also been revised upward, from 172.4 million to 190.9 million.
Sparking most of the growth in both android and overall sales is the popularity of smaller, sub-8 inch devices. As IDC research analyst Jitesh Ubrani puts it,”One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size. In terms of shipments, we expect smaller tablets to continue growing in 2013 and beyond. Vendors are moving quickly to compete in this space as consumers realize that these small devices are often more ideal than larger tablets for their daily consumption habits.”
In other projections, Microsoft’s RT tablets aren’t looking to do so well. As I and many others have observed, the RT tablets are overpriced and hampered by an operating system that’s not really Windows. IDC recommends Microsoft to focus on it’s real Windows 8 devices, and stop causing confusion with two different environments. Also, ereaders have been taking a hit in sales, especially with the growth of the smaller size tablets. Why buy an ereader when you can get a full function tablet for not much more? Finally, total tablet sales are forecast to top 350 million units in 2017, quite an impressive number. Good news for tablets, bad news for personal computers.
