The global tablets market will reach 905 million users by 2017 from 15 million users in 2010, according to Forrester.
Sales of tablets will rise to 381 million in 2017 from 122 million in 2012, at a compound annual growth rate of 25.6 percent.
Majority of 381 million tablets will be purchased by consumers, but enterprise purchases will make up 18 percent.
Replacement sales — tablet owners purchasing newer models — make up an increasing proportion of the market, even as overall market penetration continues to grow among tablet non-owners.
In North America, 60 percent of online consumers will own a tablet by 2017, making it a majority device.
In Europe, 42 percent of online consumers will own one.
While penetration rates won’t reach even 25 percent in aggregate in the developing world by that date, tablets will reach majority status in leading Asian markets, including Singapore and South Korea.
In comparison to smartphones — reaching 2.34 billion installed devices by 2017 — tablets will be used by over one in eight people on Earth, including 29 percent of online consumers.
“Both company-issued and bring-your-own (BYO) tablets will become pervasive in workplaces in developing countries or dynamic regions of developing countries (for example, urban China),” said JP Gownder of Forrester.
In the next few years, employees will be more willing to pay some or all of the cost of their device; vertical scenarios will emerge in areas like healthcare; and specific classes of workers (beyond executives and traveling salespeople) will be issued tablets.
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