Who’s Winning the Tablet War?

It’s been almost half a year since we last blogged about the Tablet market. So it’s timely to take a snapshot of what’s happening, especially as the Computex Trade Show kicks off this week in Malaysia and is introducing even more new tablets. From sales so far, it’s now certain that consumers want something more portable than a laptop, more powerful than a netbook, and more comfortable than a smartphone. The numbers are staggering. Worldwide sales of tablet computers are forecast to hit 50 million units this year and double to 100 million in 2012, said Chang Li from the Taipei Computer Association, which co-hosts the annual trade fair.

Even though Tablets have exploded in sales volume, the business market is still grappling with how to use it for business use. What we do know is that with well over half of Corporate America standardizing or looking at Tablets for business, we know they ‘have arrived’ and tablets will change how we process and manage business information going forward.

According to a Nielsen survey released last month, the Apple iPad still dominates the market with a share of 82%, while Samsung’s Galaxy Tab has a rate of 4%, Dell Streak and Motorola Xoom ownership rates were 3% and 2% and the remaining 9% of Tablet PC owners have other tablets. It’s a $9 Billion opportunity with Apple selling more than 20 million iPads since its debut in 2010. No other tablet even comes close to matching those astronomical sales figures – Motorola (250,000 Xooms), RIM (250,000 PlayBooks), and the Samsung Galaxy Tab sales haven’t been at all fast as expected.

What are buyers saying about the different Tablets? Here’s a summary from a recent PC World survey:

Easiest to hold	7-inch Galaxy Tab
Best screen	iPad 2
Best keyboard	No clear winner
Best for data transfers	Galaxy Tab
Best for multi-media	Depends on how you use your tablet

John Feland, head of Argus Insights, has collected the following ratings as far as preferences from users:

#1 rated	ASUS Eee Slate- widely used in professional settings, a well-performing Windows device
#2	10.1” Motorola Xoom- the screen graphics and resolution (with 1280 x 800 pixels) are incredible
#3	7” Galaxy Tab
#4	10” gTablet from ViewSonic
#5 and 6 (tie)	iPad 2 and RIM Playbook

It’s important to point out that Feland’s survey is just that- a survey from a limited number of users. With 20 million iPad users versus an unknown ASUS Slate market share, one questions how the iPad ranks 5th. If anything, Feland’s survey and the PC World summary make the comparison suspect.

In reality, choosing the right Tablet is really a personal choice and what you intend to use it for. The market is very quickly moving into a ‘Prosumer’ space using tablets for professional and personal use. It’s much like the Blackberry vs. iPhone wars of the past few years- do you give up simple and secure email functionality for a ton of useful apps or do you stay with limited use outside the office? Bottom line though, Tablets will revolutionize how enterprises will do business and this is just the very start of a profound transformation. The good old desktop is not going away but it’s sure getting a tough competitor with the new Tablets.