Tablets About To Overtake Notebooks as Largest Mobile Computing Category, ABI Says

Tablets are about to overtake notebook PCs as the largest mobile computing category, ABI Research said Friday in a report. It estimates tablets will be 52 percent of the mobile computing market by the end of 2015, it said. Notebooks had a 51 percent share of the category as recently as 2013, but their share is expected to decline to 48 percent this year and to 47 percent by year-end 2016, it said. Tablets “serve a consumer niche that emphasizes portability and connectivity,” ABI said. But tablets’ adoption rate is “beginning to slow,” which shows they can’t match the productivity and functionality of notebooks, it said.