Anyone with an eye to the tablet market cannot help but notice how inundated the landscape has become over the last few months. It seems that virtually every week another device is released by Samsung, Motorola, HTC, or RIM. The market, which is relatively small to begin with, is being stretched thin by the increasingly vigorous competition from companies all vying for a thick chunk of the market.
However, analysts seem confident that the tablet that started it all, the Apple iPad, can expect to comfortable hold sway over the competition for the next decade. Steve Jobs’ brainchild has captured the public’s imagination like no other tablet has been able to thus far, and is predicted to retain a whopping 85% market share by the end of the year. By the end of 2020, the iPad will allegedly still control 60% of the then-increased tablet customer base.
According to Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham, the mitigating factor that makes a tablet such a desirable device is its apps. And no tablet currently on the market can measure up to iPad in terms of the sheer number of available apps. Most app collections sported by competing tablets number in the hundreds, compared with the more than 100,000 apps boasted by the iPad. Until another manufacturer can find a way to come up with something comparable, the general tablet market will remain footnotes to Apple’s bestselling book.
