By 2016 there will be 760 million tablets in use globally representing a 46% compound annual growth rate, Forrester Research forecasts in their just published report “Tablets Will Rule the Future Personal Computing Landscape.” That’s pretty dramatic growth considering that in 2011 56 million tablets were sold.
Why the rapid growth in the tablet market? According to Forrester’s Frank Gillett, “Tablets aren’t the most powerful computing gadgets. But they are the most convenient.”
Gillett explains:
They have longer battery life and always-on capabilities better than any PC — and will continue to be better at that than any ultrathin/book/Air laptop. That makes them very handy for carrying around and using frequently, casually, and intermittently even where there isn’t a flat surface or a chair on which to use a laptop.
And tablets are very good for information consumption, an activity that many of us do a lot of. Content creation apps are appearing on tablets. They’ll get a lot better as developers get used to building for touch-first interfaces, taking advantage of voice input, and adding motion gestures.
Forrester goes on to forecast that by 2016 one third of all tablets will be purchased by businesses and we will “see a very different computing landscape, with tablet adoption having had a dramatic impact on PCs.”
These predictions are probably not a surprise to many small businesses and schools that are already using tablets for many of their business functions. The Street recently reported on the growing using of tablets by small businesses in their article “Why Every Small Business Needs an iPad”. According to Mike Pugh, vice president of marketing at j2 Global:
Credit card processing off a mobile device is a great way to be able to do business in a variety of different settings. Using the camera in the device to be able to do both taking pictures and video. For someone who has remote offices, video conferencing can be a fantastic way to maintain contact with customers or employees. Using the camera is also great way to do documentation; essentially it serves as a scanner that can document insurance claims or for interior designers to be able to take pictures of different environments.
What are we seeing? We have seen an uptick in schools leasing tablets for the 2012/2013 school year especially since Apple’s launch of the new iPad.
What questions do you have about leasing tablets for your business or school? Please contact us and we will walk you through the options.