2011 is the Year of the Tablet

21 million.

That’s the number of tablets expected to be sold at the end of this year, based on a forecast by International Data Corporation (IDC)

And get this: Only 2 million tablets were sold last year. That’s an impressive tenfold increase in units sold.

There was however a drop in tablet demand during the first quarter but if you’re thinking that the tablet bubble in Asia will be approaching its impending burst soon, you are unfortunately wrong. IDC revised its shipment forecast for 2011 upwards from 50.4 million units to 53.5 million units!

In fact, we now have more offerings in the tablet market: BlackBerry’s PlayBook, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Asus’ Eee Pad, Motorola’s Xoom, HP’s TouchPad, just to name a few. Interestingly, these tablets have barely made a dent in the market while allowing Apple’s iPad 2 to enjoy its reign and to set the pace in the industry over the coming years.
Here’s what Melissa Chau, Research Manager for Client Devices Research at IDC Asia/Pacific has to say about this.

“Apple’s aggressive pricing and strong branding left little room for other players to prosper. Over the next five years, Apple will set the pace for the media tablet category. Competitors to iPad must innovate ways to differentiate their products though, lest consumer interest wanes in favor of the next tech gadget. Some of this demand may be driven by the education sector, such as the Thai government’s recently announced plan to distribute 800,000 Android tablets to primary school students. While this latest announcement has not been yet factored into IDC’s forecast, there are certainly opportunities out there to keep driving media tablet growth,”

So, which is the tablet for you? :)