Tablets: Segmentation, Mobile Operator Business Models and Forecasts

Apple’s launch of the iPad is largely responsible for re-igniting interest in tablet computers which has accelerated convergence and started to reveal the potential value that these mobile devices can offer to both consumers and enterprises alike. Many players across the value chain are clambering for a share of this nascent product segment.

Overview

The potential of tablet based devices was first hinted at during the 1960s. After decades of significant additional hardware and software improvements today’s tablets, as typified by Apple’s iPad2, are equipped with high resolution touchscreens, GHz-plus multi-core processors and gigabytes of storage; they should be seen as the latest step in the inevitable mobilization of computing. Apple’s launch of the iPad is largely responsible for re-igniting interest in tablet computers which has accelerated convergence and started to reveal the potential value that these mobile devices can offer to both consumers and enterprises alike.

However, the main challenge that tablets face if they are to grow significantly is that they must become more central to our everyday lives. Today, most consumers and employees have a mobile phone - increasingly a smartphone - and a PC in some form or other. So, at best, a tablet will be a third or perhaps fourth computing device. For tablet sales to grow significantly, they must have sufficient added features to displace at least one or these other devices. Added to the market dynamics of a nascent tablet market, mobile operators also face the challenge of developing compelling tablet business models.

This research programme looks at how customer demand for tablets is being driven, and how many vendors have developed a range of tablet size, feature and price combinations to help differentiate their product and address particular market segments. Further, it explores the issues that mobile operators face to develop compelling tablet business models and provide innovative mobile data plans to drive incremental revenues. Also included are Informa Telecoms & Media’s latest volume sales forecasts for the tablet market, segmented by operating system, screen size and connectivity (e.g. 3G-capable).