Tablet sales are booming much to the angst of PC makers who are witnessing a major slump in demand for notebooks.Tablet sales during the fourth quarter of 2012 accounted for almost half of all of last year’s sales, according to research Company Futuresource.
The research firm reported global sales during the quarter reached 64 million units and totaled 136 million units for all of 2012. The quarterly sales figure represented a 100 percent increase over the fourth quarter in 2011 and for the year, tablet sales were up 119 percent, said Arun Gill, market analyst, Futuresource Consulting.
The company noted that despite retaining its No. 1 position in the tablet market, Apple missed a revenue opportunity by not having enough iPad Mini tablets in stock.
Amazon, however, made the most out of the growing popularity of smaller-screen tablets and retained a comfortable lead in this category with its Kindle Fire HD.
This increased demand also negatively impacted average selling prices, Futuresource said.
Although Apple competitors have a lot of ground to make up, Gill said Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2 performed well as did the Nexus 10.
Microsoft had little impact on the category with its Windows 8 RT, but Gill thought the upcoming release of the Windows 8 Pro could change the company’s fortunes.
