Apple Named Top Tablet Producer In ME, Africa

Tablet shipments to the Middle East and Africa registered a 208 per cent growth in the second quarter of this year, reaching a total of 2.79 million units, exceeding the region’s PC market for the first time, said an IDC report.

Apple retained its top position in the tablet market despite its total shipment for the quarter, which stood at 682,000 units, falling below the expected target. Samsung had the second highest shipment of 627,000 units. Lenovo, though far behind, shipped 140,000 units while Asus shipped a total of 107, 000 units.

Android operating systems contributed massively to increasing the tablet share in the region with two million devices shipped during the second quarter of this year.

“The launch of the iPad mini could not prevent iOS from rapidly losing share to Android devices, with cost being a key factor in consumers’ choice of tablets,” said Victoria Mendes, a research analyst for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.

“However, Apple’s new product launch, which is expected before the end of this year will definitely spur some growth for the vendor in the region.”

Far Eastern vendors like Lenovo, Asus and Acer are set to see an increase in market share because of their “extremely competitive prices”, said the report.

“The tablet market will continue to be driven by low-cost tablets, be they from the newer Far Eastern entrants or even from the more established multinational brands,” said Mendes.

“The main focus of every vendor now is to secure its position in the market by grabbing the biggest share possible from the two tablet giants of Apple and Samsung.”

Growing demand for tablets has piqued the interest of PC vendors in the region as well.

“The growing cannibalisation of PC demand by tablets has caused several multinational PC vendors to divert a larger proportion of their overall focus onto their tablet ranges,” said Fouad Charakla, research manager for personal computing, systems, and infrastructure solutions at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey.

“This development has enhanced the growth momentum of tablets in the region.”

The corporate segment will continue to grow steadily, experiencing a slight spike in 2014 owing to the Fatih project in Turkey, where one million units are expected to materialise, the report said.

Education remains the main focus area for vendors in the commercial space, with various initiatives being launched across the region.

The UAE’s ‘smart learning’ initiatives include providing every student with an electronic tablet and access to high-speed 4G networks as well as an e-library project comprising 11, 000 educational titles.