Indian tablet PC market grew nearly 3-times in Q1 2013: Study

NEW DELHI: The tablet PC market in India grew two-and-a-half times on an annual basis, with sales of over nine lakh units clocking a daily average of 10,000 devices during the January-March period of 2013, as per a study by CyberMedia Research.

Both international and home grown companies jointly sold around 3.49 lakh units in the same period a year ago.

Sequentially, however, there was a decline of 17.57 per cent from around 11 lakh units sold in October-December 2012 period, the study said.

"Although the first quarter of CY (calendar year) 2013 Tablet shipment numbers are marginally lower compared to fourth quarter CY 2012, but this is not a substantial gap and may be attributed to seasonality," CMR Telecoms Practice Lead Analyst Faisal Kawoosa said in a statement.

He added that "the country continued to witness tablet shipments of more than 10,000 units a day during the quarter".

Datawind, maker of Aakash tablet, lead the market during quarter with 15.3 per cent share leaving behind Micromax with 12.3 per cent share in terms of total number of units shipped. US tech giant Apple occupied third spot in volume terms as per the study.

"This trend points to a sort of polarisation of India tablet users - one set looks primarily for performance and best-in-class build quality and typically opts for the high- end Apple iPad, while the other segment looks for a wide range of features at an affordable price point," CMR Telecoms Practice Analyst Tarun Pathak said.