International Data Corp. boosted 2013 projections for worldwide tablet...

International Data Corp. boosted 2013 projections for worldwide tablet sales to 190.9 million units from 172.4 million based on a surge in sales of smaller, lower-priced models in 2012. IDC forecasts tablet shipments will increase by an average 11 percent 2013-2016, reaching 350 million shipments by year-end 2017. Half of shipments in Q4 2012 were tablets with eight-inch or smaller screens, and smaller tablets are expected to continue their sales growth trend in 2013 and beyond, said Jitesh Ubrani, IDC research analyst. Vendors are moving to the smaller sizes to address consumer demand for tablets that meet their “daily consumption habits,” Ubrani said. Android-based tablets grew their share of the market “notably” in 2012, IDC said, and the trend is set to continue in 2013, when the Android tablets are projected to peak at 48.8 percent share later this year, up from a previous forecast of 41.5 percent. Apple iOS tablet market share, meanwhile, is projected to slip from 51 percent in 2012 to 46 percent this year, IDC said. Long term, both iOS and Android will cede some market share to Windows-based tablets, with Windows 8 tablet sales predicted to grow from 1 percent of the market last year to 7.4 percent in 2017, IDC said. While Windows 8 tablets are expected to increase share, Windows RT-based tablet growth is expected to stall below 3 percent for the forecast period, IDC said. “Microsoft’s decision to push two different tablet operating systems … has yielded poor results in the market so far,” said Tom Mainelli, research director of tablets, at IDC. Consumers “aren’t buying Windows RT’s value proposition,” Mainelli said, saying Microsoft and its partners would be “better served” long term by focusing efforts on improving Windows 8. Forecasts for e-reader sales, meanwhile, have been revised downward by an average of 14 percent yearly from 2013-2016 on a projected rise in low-cost tablet sales, IDC said. “The growth of low-cost tablets is clearly damaging the prospects of the single-use e-reader,” Mainelli said, saying e-reader shipments “peaked in 2011 at 26.4 million units.” After declining to 18.2 million units in 2012, the category is expected to grow “only modestly in 2013 and 2014, before it begins a gradual and permanent decline beginning in 2015,” he said.