Tablet Sales Slowing, But Keep Your Mobility Shingle Hanging

Written by Elliot Markowitz
October 17, 2014

Tablet sales have slowed but smartphones are still growing. Solution providers should keep an emphasis on their mobility business.

Don’t be fooled. Tablet sales may be slowing, but the mobile migration is continuing. As a solution provider you need to continue sharpening your mobile device management, integration and security service skills, because that is where the market is still heading.

According to Gartner's latest report, sales of tablets are expected to represent less than 10 percent of all devices this year. This slowed growth is the result of new consumers turning to alternative devices and existing tablet users holding on to their current machines longer than expected, the research company said. Specifically, tablet sales will hit 229 million units worldwide this year, an 11 percent increase, but which represents only 9.5 percent of mobile devices. This is a far cry from 2013, when tablet sales skyrocketed 55 percent.

"Some tablet users are not replacing a tablet with a tablet, they are favoring hybrid or two-in-one devices, increasing its share of the ultramobile premium market to 22 percent in 2014 and 32 percent by 2018," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, in a prepared statement.

So should solution providers de-emphasize mobile solutions? Absolutely not! Smartphones will represent 71 percent of the global mobile phone market and Android device shipments is expected to hit 1 billion units in emerging markets on 2015, Gartner said.

In fact, the mobile phone market is expected to continue to grow in this year due to strong sales of lower-end smartphones, with sales of basic smartphones increasing 52 percent in 2014 and utility smartphone units doubling, Gartner said.

"The market is clearly favoring those vendors offering value in lower-priced smartphones. This trend has become more apparent, especially in the second quarter of 2014 when most of the top Chinese smartphone vendors grew volume and market share," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner, in a prepared statement. “As smartphones reach lower prices, Gartner expects nine out of 10 phones to be smartphones by 2018.”

That means 90 percent of the phones in the market in the next few years will be smart phones with data plans, many of which will be connected to a corporate network. And all of which need security.

Further, Gartner noted the expansion of affordable mobile phones are attracting replacements in many emerging regions, which is increasing the market share of smartphones. The Android and iOS mobile operating systems have further entrenched their market positions in the global phone market, therefore making it more difficult for alternative systems to make any real impact, the research firm said.

This bodes well for solution providers whose deep experience is mainly with Android and iOS.

So clearly as the mobile device market continues to evolve, so does its usage. Tablet growth may be slowing but smartphones continue to penetrate all walks of life. Solution providers must continue to focus on supporting mobile devices and evolve their integration and security services if they want to stay relevant.

Knock 'em alive!