The media tablet markets in Australia and New Zealand are expected to exhibit strong growth this year with double the volume from 2010, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
This will be largely driven from the supply-side with the launch of new devices and additional new entrants in the media tablets competitive landscape, the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker said.
In 2011, shipments of Android media tablet are expected to triple with iOS devices maintaining a leadership position in both the countries.
The media tablet marketplace, however, will be more crowded in the second half of 2011 with new entrants such as webOS and Blackberry OS devices taking up a small percentage of the unit market share.
In the first quarter of 2011, the Australian and NZ media tablet markets shrank by 34% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to slightly above 200,000 units, following a strong growth in the fourth 2010, along with anticipation of the Apple iPad 2 launch and new devices.
In the first quarter, Australia contributed to 85% of the total shipments, while the rest represented the New Zealand market size.
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IDC Australia market analyst Yee-Kuan Lau said the decrease in shipments is a result of weak consumer demand after a busy Christmas period, proceeded by the anticipation of Apple’s iPad 2 along with a series of Android 3.0 Honeycomb devices.
"Samsung, being the second largest vendor in Q1, was further affected by excessive channel inventory of Galaxy Tab from the previous quarter," Lau said.
"The launch of the Android 3.0 Honeycomb media tablets started from May onwards will be the first sign of disruption in the media tablet market.
"While the launch of Android 3.0 Honeycomb media tablets may not be significant enough to cause a shift in the competitors’ landscape now, this will spur growth in Android tablets within 2011."
In the long run, the Media Tablet forecast annual growth rate is expected to gradually decline as the market matures, but price points, applications and connectivity will remain key growth drivers of the media tablets market.
A progressive drop is expected in the price points of media tablets as component costs decline and competition ramps up, subsequently driving end user demand, the IDC tracker said.
