Tablet Market Segments
Posted On Sunday, January 16, 2011 at at 6:46 PM by Dianne Kennedyi M completing my analysis of the tablet market space. Practically every major consumer tech company at CES 2011 is coming out with something thin, touchable, and social-media friendly. Consumers want something more mobile than a laptop and faster than a netbook. The new tablet PCs shown at CES fulfill those needs, but in many different ways.
All tablets are not created equal. One significant trend at CES is the emergence of tablet PC market segments. Tablet technology is rapidly moving from light weight and “general purpose” to those optimized for a particular purpose. Tablets are rapidly diversifying based on differences of class, interface, usability and functionality. We have divided tablets that we saw at CES into the following categories:
· Gaming Tablets (High-end graphics and performance, 3D gaming capabilities, stereo, gyro sensors, external game controller)
· Entertainment Centers (Tablet entertainment centers focus on delivery of audio and video and are optimized for that purpose. High-end graphics and performance, Stereo, HDMI in/out, remote control.)
· Internet Tablets (This category, including the iPad, are general purpose tablets to support email, facebook, twitter, YouTube and fun apps like Angry Birds. Simple but powerful information appliances.)
· Reading Tablets (tablets to support reading books and newspapers based on ePub but with some internet functions such as email. These tablets come loaded with eReader software and email and web browser connections but are not designed to download and run “aps” as Internet tablets are.)
· Office Tablets / Slates (this new class of tablets, announced at CES are mobile, flat panel PCs with a touch screen. Slates typically have more RAM storage, USB input and operating systems which enable the tablet to function like a light weight PC. Struggles of iPad users to make their iPad function like a PC indicate success for this new category of tablet.)
Publishers should take special notice of Internet Tablets for delivering magazines and Reading Tablets for delivery of books. The shift from Internet Tablets to Office Tablets seems to be the trend, so these should be considered as target publishing platforms as well.
Dianne Kennedy
Dianne Kennedy
