The competition between business-use tablets is expected to begin in 2013, with many vendors including Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Lenovo to launch models in the second half of 2013, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.
Tablet shipments in 2013 are estimated to grow 70% on year and will have a chance to challenge 200 million units, surpassing those of notebooks, the sources said.
Currently, Microsoft has the strongest advantage in the business-use tablet market with its Office software and the document-processing software is the key for Windows 8 to achieve a share higher than iOS and Android in the market. Knowing where its advantages are, Microsoft has no plans to release Office for iPad or Android tablets until mid-2014, the sources analyzed.
As for upstream ODMs, Inventec is now separating its product lines into three major segments, ultra-thin notebook, convertible notebook and tablet-like notebook, and products in the tablet-like notebook segment are meant for the business-use tablet market, according to company chairman Richard Lee.
Lee pointed out that business-use tablets are the most difficult to develop as these devices will need to feature the productivity of notebooks, but without an actual keyboard. Therefore, developing applications to enhance productivity is crucial for success in the market. Lee also revealed that the company will release some related products by the fourth quarter.
Since Inventec's major clients are HP and Toshiba, some market watchers believe the products that Inventec spoke of will be for the two vendors.
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Competition rising between business-use tablet |
Source: DigiTimes
