Tablet computer shipments in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, will increase nearly 10 times from 2 million shipped last year to 21 million units in 2015, according to a US-based market research company.
The figure represents a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 54 percent, International Data Corp (IDC) said in a report on Friday on 13 markets: Taiwan, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Mature countries such as Taiwan, South Korea and Australia are showing high interest in mobile devices like tablets, while China continues to demonstrate high purchasing power for new-tech products, the IDC report said.
Emerging economies such as Indonesia and Malaysia have more conservative attitudes toward tablet PCs and still prefer mini-notebooks.
“Over the next five years, Apple Inc will set the pace for the tablet category. Competitors to iPad must find innovate ways to differentiate their products, lest consumer interest wanes in favor of the next tech gadget,” said Melissa Chau, a research manager for client devices research at IDC Asia-Pacific.
“Some of this demand might be driven by the education sector, such as the Thai government’s recently announced plan to distribute 800,000 Android tablets to primary school students,” she said. “While this latest announcement has not yet been factored into the IDC’s forecast, there are certainly opportunities out there to keep driving media tablet growth.”
IDC said Apple became more active in Asia for the iPad 2 launch, as its aggressive pricing and strong branding left little room for other players to gain a toehold.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co has focused on its 7-inch tablet, relying on its domestic brand strength to boost its numbers, while a host of local Chinese brands might survive in some niche markets with product-development speed being their key strength, IDC said.
On the other hand, e-readers will carry a lower 18 percent CAGR as tablets offer a better reading experience with color display for magazine content.
“Lack of localized content is an issue for e-readers in the region. In China, for example, some consumers are still relying on pirated Internet downloads. Online bookstores haven’t been earning device vendors wide margins on content, and face aggressive iPad pricing, squeezing them further,” said Dickie Chang (張祐菖), a senior market analyst for client devices research at IDC Asia-Pacific.
The e-reader market is largely driven by Hanvon (漢王) and SNDA (盛大) in the Chinese market, as they entered the market early. In China, however, more consumers are starting to consider tablets, IDC said.
The Amazon Kindle only sells in some Asia-Pacific countries and is popular in English-speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand, the market tracker said.
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