Telecom Lead Asia: Samsung, Micromax and Datawind lead the Indian tablet market that recorded sales of 1.1 million in Q3 2012.
In Q3 (July-September) 2012, Samsung led with 23.9 percent share.
Market share of Micromax was 15.3 percent.
Datawind is at third position with 12.3 percent share.
India Quarterly Media Tablets Market: 3Q (July-September) 2012
| Vendors | percent share in terms of total sales (unit shipments) |
| Samsung | 23.9 |
| Micromax | 15.3 |
| Datawind* | 12.3 |
CyberMedia Research (CMR) India Quarterly Media Tablets Market Review for 3Q 2012, December 2012
* Excludes sales of Aakash tablets to Govt. of India
Close to 135 vendors launched their tablets till Q3 2012.
The ASV (Average Sales Value) of tablets in India during Q3 2012 was approximately Rs 13,200, while 63.5 percent of all sales were below the Rs 10,000-mark.
Some of the trending features in terms of specifications of Media Tablet devices in the India market during Q3 2012 are in Table 2:
Table 2. Key Feature Trends: India Quarterly Media Tablets Market, 3Q (July-September) 2012
| Feature | Trending | percent share in terms of total sales (unit shipments) |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi | 63.2 |
| Display (Screen Size) | 7” | 77.9 |
| OS | Android | 91.3 |
| Processor Speed | 1 Ghz | 62.8 |
| RAM | 512 MB | 56.4 |
| Voice Calling | No | 62.9 |
CyberMedia Research (CMR) India Quarterly Media Tablets Market Review for 3Q 2012, December 2012
“A majority of the Tablets currently on offer have built-in Wi-Fi connectivity with 3G access enabled through a USB dongle. However, going forward, increased penetration of 3G networks, declining ASVs of 3G-enabled Media Tablets and launch of BWA (4G / WiMax / LTE) services in the country is likely to see a rise in 3G-only Tablet devices with larger screen sizes,” said Faisal Kawoosa, lead analyst, CyberMedia Research Telecoms Practice.
During Q4 2012 and through 2013, CyberMedia Research expects to see a change in the rankings, with global leaders like Apple and Google coming into their own, especially after the launch of the Apple Mini and Google Nexus range of Media Tablets, respectively.
Tablet PC market Outlook for 2013
The Tablet PC market is increasingly becoming one of the most dynamic consumer electronics product categories in India. Year-on-year the form factor has surprised the industry with the highly visible adoption, uptake and usage. For the year 2013, CyberMedia Research (CMR) expects the following to be the highlights of the India Tablet PC market:
Windows 8 based Media Tablets will be the main highlight in the market. In 2013, India will witness Tablet PCs being made available on MS Windows 8 from all leading OEMs. This is expected to bring about several changes in market dynamics such as OS shares, ASVs etc.
Enterprises will see increasing adoption of Tablet PCs as part of the larger trend towards mobility. So far enterprises have been trying to understand the role of Tablets in the enterprise space. Through 2012, at different forums industry leaders were seen deliberating upon several industry vertical-focused use cases of Tablets and these are expected to be implemented in 2013. With BYOD an increasing reality, this implementation will very likely to gain an impetus across verticals.
At least a few OEMs are expected to announce LTE / LTE-ready Tablets for the India market in 2013. Though we haven’t seen many Tablets announced yet supporting LTE worldwide, but India, rightly poised at the juncture of an LTE ‘big bang’ can be an attractive destination for players who can meet the expectations of Indian customers across segments. Tablets are expected to gain traction as the preferred device for first time computing enthusiasts and for those seeking high data consumption applications over LTE networks.
There could be some cleansing in the market for sub-INR 5,000 Tablets. 2013 is likely to see some of the players in this segment closing shop due to lack of market acceptability and increasing expectations of consumers, where these devices are bound to fail.
2013 will see markets crystallize around three price points for the India Tablet PC market. These will be INR 5,000-10,000; INR 15,000-20,000 and over INR 35,000. Some vendors might have to undertake price corrections to fit their devices within these three price segments, to serve the market aptly and participate in these high-volume price levels.
Total shipments for the India Tablet PC market are expected to close at 3 million units in 2012. Further, the market is expected to increase by at least 100 percent in 2013 (double the number of units sold in 2012).
The key drivers for this are a large number of launches by OEMs eyeing the India consumer market for mobile computing and data communication products, as well as the demand expected to be generated via enterprise adoption of Tablets. In case large deals are announced by vendors for supplies to the central / state governments for distribution to university, college and high school students, the forecast number of Tablet sales for 2013 could easily exceed 6 million units.
