The Indian tablet market this year would easily cross 1.2 million units even though it is still developing as compared to other countries such as the US. In the US, about 18 million units were sold in 2011 itself whereas in India less than 200,000 tablets were sold in the same period. The flipside of the coin is that there would be no other product category that would have witnessed such phenomenal growth. By 2015, the tablet market is expected to be more than 15 million units. According to a recent research, the country saw sales of about 475,000 units of tablets in the calendar year of 2011. Tablet shipments are expected to rise sharply from 3 million units in 2011 to 23.6 million units by 2017.
Sunil Lalvani - Director, Enterprise Sales - RIM India points out, "With the entry of various brands of tablet in India, the market is witnessing a revolution as these devices are changing the way services are delivered in various sectors such as education, healthcare and governance. One of the most important factors in the growth of tablets has been the encouragement from the government in adopting and implementing low-cost options for use in rural areas. Education and healthcare services are now being accessed by many more people with the help of low-cost tablet. Affordability is another big factor in this market as the Indian customers are very price sensitive and always expect optimum value for money."
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Sunil Lalvani
Director, Enterprise Sales - RIM India
"Sunil Lalvani "With the multi-tasking children of the 1990s emerging as the biggest consumers of ever-evolving gadgets, companies are aggressively targeting this group. Every student, right from kindergarten to college, is a potential customer for portable gadgets such as tablets. "
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Asim Warsi
VP, Samsung Mobile India
"The mature Indian consumers' increasing preference for tablets and the younger demographics' desire to use mobile web technologies have increased the consumption of tablets in India."
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Shishir Singh, Director
Product Marketing, Dell
"Tablets have received phenomenal response from the GenY audience as well as young professionals but, going forward and looking at how technology is changing the lives of people, even enterprises are accepting the need of a more portable device."
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Shashin Devsare
Executive Director, Karbonn mobiles
"Demand for high end specifications for camera, higher speed processors and latest android operating systems along with useful innovative applications, which are the progresses that are the current trends in this space which we are bullish about, which are sure to drive the bloom of the sector in times to come."
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Suneet Singh Tuli
CEO, Datawind
"The current annual market is 3 to 5 million units, but we expect this to expand to over 20 million units annually within the next 3 years."
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Rajeev Karwal
Founder & CEO, Milagrow
"Tablets based on Windows will show great demand especially in the enterprise segment. As time progresses, the market must evolve according to customer demand."
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Sandeep Arya
MD, Amtrak Info Systems Pvt. Ltd.
"Currently in nascent stages of adoption, tablet PC market in India is expected to show robust growth in the next five years with revenues from tablet PC sales reaching $6.5B by 2016 as consumers increasingly realize value-proposition being offered by tablet PCs."
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Pankit Chheda
Marketing Manager, Mitashi
"The biggest demand driver for tablets in India will be the need for a low cost mobile internet device. There is an ever growing dependence on the internet for all the purposes such as reading news, accessing emails, social networking, video conferencing etc."
A tablet is especially made for users who want to maximize their viewing experience while retaining utmost portability. It is poised to create a new segment of users who prefer a connected lifestyle, while at work or at home.
Asim Warsi, VP, Samsung Mobile India, explains, “According to a new report from Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT), the tablet PC market in India is expected to grow at 40 percent to 7.3 million units in 2015-16, up from 0.95 millon units in 2011-12. The mature Indian consumers' increasing preference for tablets and the younger demographics' desire to use mobile web technologies have increased the consumption of tablets in India.
He further says that looking at the Indian market and how it has evolved, tablets have emerged as converged devices that have created a unique user experience thereby changing the lifestyle of the Indian consumer. Tablets are seeing a high rate of adoption as they cater to multiple needs of a user, thereby offering a complete experience. With advanced features such as seamless connectivity, richer multimedia experience, advanced processing capabilities, these devices are helping consumers reduce their dependence on multiple devices.
Key Trends…
• Smaller screen sizes like 7” - 8” will dominate compared to 10.1”.
• Offbeat Screen sizes with very competitive price points - we are seeing odd sizes like 9" etc gain momentum because of their very competitive prices.
• 2G & 3G Tabs - As WiFi availability is not uniform, we are seeing 2G & 3G Tabs gain faster acceptance compared to only wifi tabs.
• Better Battery Backup - Good battery back up at a competitive price will be a very key driver in the time to come.
• Operating System - Android is running away with the market share among the masses and iOS being a favorite among the classes, but with windows 8 entering recently and Firefox OS around the corner, we will see OS wars like never before.
Technological Innovations in the Tablet Domain…
The key innovation in Tablet landscape is mobile connectivity and the ability to deliver internet access beyond WiFi hotspots.
“Near field communication (NFC) is one of the most convenient technological innovations in the tablet domain. Worldwide there is already wide acceptance of NFC as users are able to make transaction or transfer data by simply bringing their devices close to each other. Another useful innovation is the ability to be able to connect mass external storage devices to the tablets,” said, Rajeev Karwal, Founder & CEO, Milagrow.
The tablet industry has seen a huge amount of innovation since its introduction. Starting from a basic tablet, providing an alternative to laptops, tablets have introduced improved viewing experience with increased DPI in screen resolutions. Introduction of new applications has made working experience on tablets more real.
“Tablets are being introduced as not only an alternative to computers and laptops, but also having qualities of a mobile phone with calling facilities. Now the innovation has brought in 3G calling facility to experience Video calls. The tablet industry has seen a number of hardware innovations too with tablets becoming slimmer, lighter, and available in various sizes to cater to various consumer demands. Technological innovation of multiple touch-points on tablet screen from single touch-point adds to the user’s experience,” explains, Sandeep Arya, MD, Amtrak Info Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Demand Drivers for Tablets in India…
The major demand drivers of tablets in India can be considered as the internet users who are looking for enhanced experience of browsing. Users focus on simplicity and convenience. Tablet demand is coming from various user groups where the mass of the utility savvy consumers is the highest.
Rajeev Karwal of Milagrow opines that the biggest demand driver for tablets in India will be the need for a low cost mobile internet device. There is an ever growing dependence on the internet for all kinds of purposes such as reading news, accessing emails, social networking, video conferencing etc. This coupled with life being continuously on the go, laptops and personal computers are fast giving way to tablets that are cheaper, easy to carry and significantly more comfortable to consume information.
“Education is the biggest demand driver in India,” says, Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, Datawind
According to Pankit Chheda, Marketing Manager, Mitashi, “Today price is the primary driver for tabs but we feel that if we provide some great features at a good price, the customer will be willing to pay for it and that is exactly how we are approaching the markets. Providing a good price is sure to get the tab off to a good start but it can sustain only if it is the right mix of features and price.”
One of the main demand drivers emerging is that the Indian consumers are more inclined towards the tablets which are low-cost, sleek and encompass some exceptional feature like long battery life, essential mobility, multi-tasking ability and a wide gamut of applications. It is this ease-of-use and multi-tasking ability of tablets which is one of the most critical driving forces for the emerging tablet ecosphere in the country.
Shishir Singh, Director, Product Marketing, Dell India explains it in three points:
• Evolving customer’s needs for an always connected lifestyle
• Ultra-portability
• A one stop solution for customers expand their ability to access their digital lives on the go
Demand in Different Geographies…
As with other commoditized entities, the demand for tablets also differs in Class A, B and C categories. There is a minor reduction in demand for tablets as you move from Class-A to B and C cities. For people in B and C class cities, tablets are their first ever computing devices whereas in Class-A cities, tablets are an additional screen being added to the life of the user. A significant number of small towns in the southern part of India are showing great demand for value tablets.
Thus, metros and tier-1 cities in India generate maximum demand for tablets while compared with the demands from tier 2 and 3 cities. In the tablet category, urbanites and suburbanites are primarily responsible for its exponential growth. The demand for tablets in the rural sector is comparatively slow mainly because of lack of awareness, device availability, price and internet accessibility. Since internet penetration is growing in the country, so with affordable products, internet & local language contents, the tablet market will surely show positive trend and will boost the demand for the said product category. The differentiation in demand lies with the buyers’ capacities and requirements of the cities.
e-Retailing Opportunities for Tablets…
Undoubtedly e-retailing is coming up as a huge selling medium and this has been realised and utilised by the vendors aptly. Here are the opinions on the significance of Tablets sold online.
“e-Retailing has been a profitable venture for us wherein 20-25% of our regular sale has been achieved by the online medium. This is a new trend which has augmented our sales, and has added a new dimension to the sales strategy at Karbonn Mobiles,” says, Shashin Devsare, ED, Karbonn mobiles.
“e-retailing has grown in India beyond everyone’s wildest dreams, allowing companies to reach out to customers where traditional distribution fails to reach. For Mitashi E-Retail has been important from the start and is a very important medium to showcase and sell our tablets. For 5 tabs sold at a retail counter we have 1 tab selling online and this ratio is constantly growing,” says, Pankit Chheda, Marketing Manager, Mitas hi,
“As we are entering the industry, we understand that the market has a great need to be catered through the e-retailing portals. According to a recent research, e-commerce sites contribute about 8 per cent to 10 per cent of total monthly tablets sales in India. In the last two quarters, e-commerce sites (or Online Retail Stores) have begun to emerge as strong sales and marketing channels for these devices too. We are eyeing on various large players of e-retail portals for making available our tablets to the end customers with the perspective of wide reach,” says, Sandeep Arya, MD, Amtrak Info Systems Pvt. Ltd.
“Milagrow tablets are doing superbly well in the e-retailing channel, having crossed expectations by a large margin. In fact we are doing a very handsome turnover from our own website as well. The best part about online sales is that customers publicly give their honest viewpoints on their purchases in the form of reviews. For Milagrow tablets and customer service you will see positive feedback across websites on the internet - something that we truly value, it keeps us going!” says, Rajeev Karwal, Founder & CEO, Milagrow.
“We have received a good response so far to the launch of our XPS 12 Convertible, which was released in India in October. While we cannot comment on sales figures at this point, we are also looking forward to our Latitude 10 tablet which has just been made available in the India market as well. We have received a good amount of interest from the Enterprise segment to this product so far,” says, Shishir Singh, Director, Product Marketing, Dell India.
In The End…
The Indian Tablet market is observing a conversion from desktop PC to Tablet PC, as the inherent Indian consumer base is seeking to adopt the mobility offered by tablets into its everyday life. The mature Indian consumers' increasing preference for tablets and the younger demographics' desire to use mobile web technologies could see the Tablet market’s revenues soar in coming times. Multi usage, great user interface, rise of 3G and 4G penetration, enhanced reach and changing lifestyles of consumers in India are the factors boosting the demand for Tablets in the Indian market.
The low-cost tablet category that has products priced between INR 5,000 and INR 15,000 has been dominated mostly by homegrown companies such as Reliance, Olive, Spice, HCL InfoSystems and S Mobility, many of them fresh entrants in the personal computing industry. But off late there has been a spurt in the number of lower priced tablets with even leading telecom operators like Reliance, Bharti (Beetel TeleTech) plunging into this space. However the enterprise users have been enticed by high end tablets from Samsung, Apple, and HTC. Apple iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab and HTC Flyer are the market leaders in high-end tablet segment in India. Such multi-media tablets present a variety of new opportunities for enterprise users in terms of content consumption, while supplementing traditional uses of laptops and smartphones for content creation.
for more contact :
moumita@varindia.com
