While major
electronics vendors from Samsung to Hewlett-Packard and Motorola are making
giant “to-dos” over their iPad-competing tablet efforts, these devices actually
rank lowest on Americans’ shopping lists this year, Gartner revealed in a Feb.
17 study.
When polled
about the devices they planned to purchase in 2011, the majority of Americans
said they had their eyes on an open-source operating system (we’re looking at
you, Android) smartphone. Laptops ranked second, followed by desktops, feature
phones, e-book readers and, in sixth place, tablets.
“Continued
low retail pricing and widespread adoption of applications like Web browsing, e-mail,
Twitter, Facebook, GPS and games will continue to stimulate consumer
demand,” Hugues de la Vergne, principal research analyst at Gartner, said
in a statement. He added that in 2010, “aggressive operator device subsidies
and lower-cost monthly data plans” helped to drive smartphone purchases.
Expected to
climb still higher, Gartner forecasts that U.S. smartphone sales will jump from
2010’s 67 million units to 95 million units by year’s end. By contrast, mobile
PC shipments are expected to rise, during the same period, from 45.6 million
units to 50.9 million units.
Tablets,
according to research firm IDC, are expected to finish 2011 with 45 million
units shipping and grow to nearly 71 million units in 2012.
For more, read the eWeek article: Smartphones, Not Tablets, Top Consumer Shopping Lists: Gartner.
