If you are a manufacturer of tablets planning to make it big in the Indian market, the time is now to pump in all your resources in to the market. Well we are not saying this – but a recent report by research firm Cybermedia Forecast claims that the year 2013 would see sales of tablet computers to more than double. The Research firm expects that at least 6 million tablets would be sold in India in 2013 – compared to almost half that number observed in the year that just went by.
India has seen a very slow uptake of tablets – even three after years after the first of the models trickled down in to the country. However, with devices getting cheaper by the day and low cost manufacturers offering decently spec’d value for money products, the market seems to be opening up. If the current growth rates continue, this would be the third consecutive year of double digit growth.
According to Cybermedia, tablet sales would have crossed the 3 million units mark in 2012. This was way above the paltry figure of 0.5 million units seen back in 2011. In India, Samsung is leading the tablets sales pack with the company managing to ship an estimated 1.1 million tablets until the quarter ending September 2012 and thereby garnering 23.9 percent of the market. In second place is local player Micromax which romps home with 15.3 percent market share. DataWind, riding high on the “success” of the Aakash Tablet is at third place. Apple’s iPad might be a popular product elsewhere – but in India, it managed to only garner the fifth spot. Too expensive, people say.
Cybermedia also reveals an interesting statistic regarding the average price point of tablets in India. According to them the average sales value of tablets was Rs.13,200 and over 63.5 percent of tablet sales belonged to devices that cost less that Rs.10,000.
2012 also saw the advent of new low cost players in the tablets segment and these players are expected to drive the markets in 2013. Add to it the fact that the market is to be floded with Windows 8 powered tablets as well in 2013, the prospects for the tablets market in India seem very bright.
