The tablet segment has started declining and there seems to be no light at end of this tunnel
By Nandagopal Rajan
The Apple iPad was a game changer, but the more affordable tablets that came along after this was supposed to change computing forever and take it to people who would otherwise never had the opportunity to do so. For a couple of years, tablets became the common man’s computing device, helping run small shops, power education and even be the only access to the Internet for entire villages.
However, the tablet story has slowly ground to a halt and that is because of a slightly smaller device, more popularly known as the phablet.
Phablets are just smaller tablets that come with calling, or they are larger smartphone if that is the way you like to look at it. Anything above 7 inches screen size is a tablet and those between 5 and 6.99 inches are phablets. They are more easy to use, almost as affordable and works as smartphones too, thus negating the need to have two devices.
Biswapriya Bhattacharjee, VP, eTechnology Practice, IMRB International, confirms this. “The tablet as a device did not bring in very clear differentiated proposition vis-à-vis a smartphone or a computer. With the growth of smartphones and the growth of phablets, the tablet market was directly impacted,” he explains on how the tablet market has gone into negative growth across the world, including India.
And one the reasons seems to be very valid, online casino especially when you understand how even the affordable tablet was a big investment for a lot of people who bought one over the past couple of years. “During the initial growth phase of the tablet, a lot of inferior quality tablets were sold in the market under the banner of low cost tablets. The users who bought these tablets were dissatisfied with the product to the extent that they created a negative word of mouth for the category,” says Bhattacharjee. This mattered as most of the affordable tables were bought by youth and the lower income groups. IMRB research show this led to an overall category level dissonance for tablets in 2012-13 itself. By the time regulations and standards came in, the damage had been done.
The rise and fall of tablets
While initial impetus in the segment was driver by consumers, enterprise seems to be the only hope for tablet makers now. “In 2012, IMRB had estimated that the key segment driving the tablets in future will be the business establishment segments. We continue to believe that the establishment segment will be the key driver to the sustenance of tablets,” says Bhattacharjee. But while numbers show that enterprise segment is still showing growth, the opportunity could have been missed already. “Over the last three years, due to lower focus by OEMs on the business segment, a lot of the business applications that could have potentially run on tablets are being run on smartphones now,” he says, adding that the only hope is if apps are created for this segment.
From Households to Enterprises
However, while it is clear that enterprise is the big driver for tablets in the reduced volumes of the future, with a top player like Apple launching an iPad Pro for the productivity market, things could change. It will not be a volume play, but Apple has an opportunity to be a significant player in the enterprise space. Samsung too has enterprise grade devices that could compete for attention of CTOs. But that does not mean affordable tablets have some life left in them. This negative sentiment is visible from the fact that hardly any OEM has announced one in the past few months. The 8-inch Windows tablets that were supposed to be the big gamechanger never came. Even the morphed 2-in-1s, essentially tablets with keyboards, have not yet been able to make a significant impact in any market. However, the biggest impact of the two-year tablet reign has been how it has led to the cost of laptops coming down significantly. It is now possible to buy a entry-level laptop for as low as Rs 13,000, as manufacturers try and woo what would have been tablet customers to buy something better.