Tablets to Overtake Notebooks by 2016

The computer market is expected to flatten out by 2016 as consumer demand for the slimmer tablet overtakes the personal computer, a survey has found.

Research firm NPD Group, who coordinated the survey, said overall mobile PC shipments will grow from 347 million this year to more than 809 million by 2017.

Notebook PC shipments are slated to increase from 208 million to 393 million within the same time period, but tablets will likely grow from 121 million to 416 million, the Daily Telegraph reported. The tablet’s growth will be primarily fueled by Apple, who encompasses a comfortable 62.8 per cent of the tablet market share.

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Samsung, the second largest market share owner, follows with a measly 7.5 per cent.

The North American, Western European and Japanese markets have accounted for 66 per cent of tablet shipments this year – a figure that NPD said they expect to remain within that range over the next few years.

"Consumer preference for mobile computing devices is shifting from notebook to tablet PCs, particularly in mature markets," said Richard Shim, analyst at NPD, to the Daily Telegraph.

"While the lines between tablet and notebook PCs are blurring, we expect mature markets to be the primary regions for tablet PC adoption. New entrants are tending to launch their initial products in mature markets. Services and infrastructure needed to create compelling new usage models are often better established in mature markets."