Tablet shipments will reach 253 million by 2016, nearly a five-fold increase from the 55.2 million tablets expected to reach the market in 2011, according to a new report by analyst firm Juniper Research.
As the tablet market is growing rapidly and opportunities in the PC market is diminishing, many leading players from PC space such as Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Toshiba are following Apple to foray into the tablet market.
The new Juniper report said over half of annual tablet shipments will have cellular connections by 2016.
Stating that network access to play a key role, Juniper said 4G networks in developed markets will enable richer services over cellular connections, and the lack of fixed-line infrastructure in emerging markets will make cellular connections a must-have as tablets are adopted regionally.
Report author Daniel Ashdown said operator retail strategy also has a part to play: Multi-device plans (for a smartphone and a tablet) will overcome the problem of consumers not wanting to pay another subscription.
According to the Juniper report, nearly a fifth of annual tablet shipments will reach the enterprise space by 2016, as business continues to realise the potential of the device for content creation.
