The iPad isn’t going to replace tradition computers for the most part, but it will continue to evolve as the tablet market grows and influences the development of the personal computer.
The evolution of the tablet is due to the fact that consumers want something more portable than a laptop, more powerful than a netbook, and more comfortable than a smartphone. Last year the iPad set the benchmark for tablets on a global scale by selling more than 15 million units in a single year. This compelled pretty much every other major consumer electronic manufacturers to introduce competing products in the market, though, so far, none have been particularly successful.
Worldwide tablet market sales in 2010 was nearly US$9 billion, and it’s anticipated that tablet unit sales will cross 100 million units by 2015, according to Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com). In 2010, US and Western Europe together holds 75% of tablet unit sales share but they’re gradually losing their share to China and Korea, says the research group.
In this digital age expect tablet computers to drive massive demand for digital content and services. Telecom service provider is likely to benefit most from it in the same way as they gained from smartphone boom.
This is demonstrated by the fact that sales of the 3G iPad make up as much as 40% of total iPad sales. Internet traffic and location based services will increase tremendously, creating a market for Internet service providers, says Research and Markets.
This will further create a market for online paid content industry. And soon we may find out how the ginormous data center Apple is building in North Carolina fits into this picture.