Do you know how many touch tablets were sold last year? The correct number is 4 millions. That’s not much by any means, it’s what Nokia sells in half a day, but we’re talking about more expensive devices, of course. A recent market study done by ABI Research reveals that in 2015 the market has potential to reach 57 millions units sold worldwide. We’re talking here about exponential growth that include tablet PCs and slate type tablets, powered by either ARM or x86 architecture.

    Tablet PC market growth

    Tablet PC market growth

    The study took into consideration the Apple iPad, which will definitely set a trend for media tablets, as that’s what ABI sees in the future: tablets are here to stay, but won’t replace netbooks and laptops. They’re here to provide us with entertainment options during our leisure time. CES 2010 is the show that made clear all major manufacturers are interested in this consumer trend. Also small manufacturers are trying to enter the market with innovative products but lack the contacts with publishers and 3G data providers to offer a complete ecosystem, like Apple does with its iPad.

    ABI’s study didn’t say anything about eBook readers, but I can see them in the next years merging with touch tablets, especially if Pixel Qi screens become reality. That’s a must because people don’t want to stare for hours in a backlit screen. eInk proved this.

    Source: XbitLabs