Tablets are set to be owned by one in eight people in four years’ time, according to a new report.
Forrester’s research revealed that 60% of online consumers in North America and 42% in Europe will own one tablet by 2017, meaning the number of tablets in use will reach 905m units.
Forrester said the predictions show that tablets have hit hyper-growth.
"Using a kitchen metaphor, we could say they have become the microwave of personal computing, after the refrigerator and the oven," the research firm said.
"In other words, they have exceeded the status of mass market to become what we can term a ‘mainstay device’… the earlier big two – the PC and the smartphone – have become a big three."
Worldwide tablet sales are expected to exceed 381m units in 2017, out of which enterprise purchases will account for 18%.
The report says that the sales of tablets will rise at a compound annual growth rate of 25.6% by 2017, which is a higher rate of CAGRthan the global PC market has ever seen.
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A report from Gartner predicts that PCs’ installed base would reach 1.5bn by the end of 2013, though sales have been decreasing in the midst of rising consumer interest in tablets and smartphones.
