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![A Samsung tablet computer. [Getty Images]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/tablet-300x200.jpg)
A Samsung tablet computer. [Getty Images]
The Manufacture’s Association of IT (MAIT) says that more than 1.6 million tablets were sold in 2012 – a 40 per cent growth in year-on-year comparison. It projects similar growth for 2013 and expects the number of tablets sold in India to reach more than 7.3 million by 2015.
Research firm Cybermedia, however, provided a much more optimistic outlook. It said that tablet sales in 2012 will likely have reached 3 million units – a remarkable surge of more than 600 per cent from 2011 when only half a million tablets were sold.
It said Samsung Electronics Co Ltd had on its own sold 1.1 million tablets, taking the lion’s share of the market.
Cybermedia projected 6 million tablet sales in 2013.
Analysts believe the growth of the tablet market in India – which is the globe’s second biggest telecom user with 900 mobile phones – is partly due to the rise in low-cost devices by existing and new vendors. Retail prices of tablets have also dramatically fallen, in some cases slashed by half since 2011.
The growth of tablets in the Indian market is remarkable when one considers that growth in PC, notebook and netbook sales have been steadily declining.
Technology research firm Gartner Group says that PC sales in India rose by 24 per cent between 2011 and 2012 but that this figure is likely to fall in 2013. Statistics from Europe show that PC sales there have dropped by 15 per cent in the same period.
Source: Agencies
