Trend: Growth in Tablet/eReader sales and impact on operating system distribution:

 

One trend I found interesting was the rapid growth in tablet ownership between 2009 and 2012.  Meeker’s work shows total tablet ownership at 29% of the US Adult Market with the major OS players being Google Android and Apple iOS.  Microsoft made a splash last year with the Surface announcement but their tablet has since shown slow adoption rates and Microsoft was forced to take a $900 million writedown on unsold Surface inventory in 2013.

 

Meeker predicts that Tablet sales will increase as mobile continues to overtake PC as the primary method for internet access and general computing.  Unlike the PC market which has a number of entrenched players fighting for a smaller and smaller pie the tablet industry shows rapid growth and room for greater innovation without a ubiquitous OS choice like MS Windows. 

 

The table above shows unit shipments of tablets by OS (from NBCnews.com) and the massive gains that Google Android has made on Apple iOS in a one year time frame.  Unlike iOS Android is available on multiple devices from multiple manufacturers which frees its sales volume from a specific product release and one could imagine that iOS sales in the release quarter for the iPad 4 would cut back into Androids gain.

 

 

 

 

According to IDC predictions from December 2012 Windows still  has the opportunity to become a major player in the tablet OS space and with a wealth of cash on hand and their recent purchase of Nokia’s mobile unit it is not unreasonable to expect Windows to become available on a greater range of tablet and mobile products.   The most telling trend here may be the share that Windows takes from Android over iOS in this forecast, much like the PC world IDC predicts Macheads to stay Macheads while Android users to be more flexible in converting to a Windows product. 

 

Takeaway:  The Tablet OS space shows vibrant competition and will continue to be an area to watch moving forward as current players are forced to innovate from a software standpoint to keep up with growing customer demands and more innovative hardware options.