The Tablet computers market in India shows signs of deceleration with a growth of 56% year-on-year for calendar year 2013, according to a report by International Data Corporation (IDC) released on Wednesday. In 2012, the market had shown a growth of 900%, albeit from a smaller base. The tablet computers industry had expected a 100% growth rate in 2013, but was hit by the growing popularity of phablets.
The overall India tablet shipments for 2013 stood at 4.14 million units, a growth of 56% over 2012, as spending on tablets slowed in the second half of the calendar year despite the festival season.
The report predicted that the tablet computers market will remain flat in 2014 as the government mandate on Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification along with the growing popularity of phablets is likely to obstruct the growth in the tablet category.
?The popularity of phablets has crossed over the demand for 7-inch tablets,? said Karan Thakkar, senior market analyst with IDC. ?First-time users latching onto such devices are now looking to move to products that offer better experience in terms of life span and quality.?
However, the report added that there has been an uptake in the adoption of tablets amongst commercial users in industries such as financial services, healthcare, media and education amongst others.
