The number of people using tablets at least once a month is set to grow from 14.1 million in 2012 to nearly 20 million this year, research from eMarketer has found: an increase of 39 per cent.
Going against the views of Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins, who claimed earlier this week that tablets were on their way out and there would be no reason to have one in five years’ time, eMarketer has predicted that by 2017, more than 52 per cent of the overall UK population and about two-thirds of internet users will have access to tablets.
It was found that the iPad currently dominates the tablet market, seeing growth of 125 per cent in 2012, but eMarketer says it believes that the Amazon Kindle Fire, along with other low-end tablet alternatives, "will offer more flexible pricing options and boost user numbers".
It suggests that as the tablet market grows from beyond the early adopters to the general population, lower-priced alternatives are being considered.
eMarketer forms its estimates of tablet penetration based on the analysis of survey and traffic data from research firms and regulatory agencies, sales projections, historical trends, company-specific data, and demographic and socioeconomic factors.