Tablet sales will continue to skyrocket, and the iPad will reign supreme over the tablet market for at least the next four years, according to a recent report. Apple’s iPad has maintained an almost unassailable hegemony over the entire tablet market since the original iPad’s introduction in 2010. While the market has been flooded with Android-based competitors since then, none has managed to mount a significant challenge.
According to recent data from Forrester Research, that trend will continue until 2016 at least. In a report released today, Forrester researcher Frank Gillett claims that the tablet market will see significant growth over the next few years, and that the market will continue to be dominated by Apple’s iPad. Gillett’s report predicts that tablet sales in 2016 will climb to 375 million units worldwide, and that tablet sales combined with the existing user base will total 760 million total tablet users around the globe.
This data matches up with another recent study by Gartner, which predicted that global tablet sales would reach 119 million in 2012, and climb to over 369 million by 2016. Gartner also predicted Apple’s continued ascendancy, though expected the iPad to lose some ground to its Android competitors over the next four years.
With the launch of the original iPad in 2010, Apple effectively created the consumer tablet market. While tablets did exist prior to the iPad, most were clunky and not at all user friendly. With the iPad, Apple created a device that was easy to use and highly portable. Ever since then, other tablet makers have been playing catch-up. While some Android-based tablets have done decently well in the market, none has managed to mount a genuine challenge to the iPad. If these reports are to be believed, that isn’t likely to change any time soon.
