Despite a deluge of new device offerings, tablet PCs look unlikely to become mass market this year, meaning individual manufacturers will have to strongly differentiate their products to grab the limited share of the market available. Apple still dominates in consumer minds, but Samsung, Blackberry and other Android devices look set to offer a compelling challenge.

 

As expected, February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the CES show in January revealed a surge of new tablet offerings from the major hardware manufacturers, all vying to compete with the success of the ubiquitous Apple iPad.

But while the tablet market is clearly in ascendancy, at present it is still very much nascent and we are unlikely to see the same growth this year as we expect from other categories, such as Smartphones.[i]

2011 tablet market likely to remain niche

Google has grown their share of the UK internet browser market by 6% year on year; equating to 2.3 million extra consumers who have switched from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Data from the GfK NOP Internet Browser Tracker in the UK shows that market share for all major web browsers has remained static since November 2009, with the exception of Google Chrome and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. The graphic below shows that Internet Explorer’s lost market share has been Google’s gain:

Back in February 2010 Microsoft were forced to offer a choice of browsers to any consumers using one of their operating systems (i.e. Windows); the so-called ‘browser ballot”. GfK’s data suggests that since then many people in the UK have actually stuck with what they know, resulting in little movement overall. What’s particularly interesting is that Firefox has not been able to grow its market share, with Google capturing those interested in trying something different.

High levels of consideration for competitor tablets suggest Apple won’t have it all their own way in 2011 but they’ll be thankful for the competition in the long run.

A recent article in The Guardian [1] posited that one of the best things that could happen to Apple to ensure continued success of the iPad was for competitors to launch tablet computers, and for these products to enjoy moderate levels of success. As happened with the iPod many moons ago, the thinking here is that a batch of serious rival devices would help cement tablets as a ‘legitimate’ category in consumers’ minds, encouraging continued sales and crucially allowing Apple to progressively refine and release further iterations of their hardware. (Although the impressive sales of the iPad so far would suggest this won’t be an issue.)

In the PC market, Microsoft’s Windows OS is as common as the mobile phone in your pocket. However, Windows Mobile has struggled to capture the imagination of both consumers and businesses. In fact, with a rapidly declining 5% [1] of the global smartphone market it’s fair to say that relatively speaking Windows Mobile has been a horrible failure. But that’s all about to change.

Recent research by GfK NOP [2] shows that interest in Windows Phone 7 (the catchy name given to the successor of Windows Mobile 6.5) is strong. Almost one in five (18%) of UK mobile phone owners say they would consider a Windows Phone 7 (let’s go with WP7 from here on in) handset (available on HTC and Samsung devices among others) when they next come to renew, upgrade or buy their next mobile phone. Of course current smartphone owners display much higher levels of interest (32%). What’s more, Microsoft will be pleased to hear that of all smartphone owners, those using Google’s Android will be most interested (41%) in WP7. So what’s changed?

Google Chrome continues to muscle its way into the browser market as GfK data for January-June 2010 shows that it has a 7% share of the browser market. In June 2010 alone it accounted for a 9% share which is remarkable considering that it has only been in existence for 2 years.

To highlight the impact that Google Chrome is making we have compared Jan-Jun 2009 data against the same rolling months of 2010.

Compared to this time last year Internet Explorer has lost 12% market share while the Chrome and Firefox browsers have gained some ground. The bad publicity around Internet Explorer and its security flaws combined with the EU enforced cannot have done Internet Explorer any favours. Google Chrome is taking full advantage and eating its way into Internet Explorer at a rapid rate and there is no doubt that they want to do the same to Firefox

Growth returns to Western European consumer technology markets in Q1 2010. GfK TEMAX data shows that consumers are more willing to upgrade their home technology as well as experiment with new smartphone mobile technology.

GfK TEMAX data shows that, overall, the consumer technology market recorded 2.7% growth in Q1 this year compared to Q1 in 2009. Key technology sectors have recorded year on year growth, including Telecommunications (+4.9%), Information Technology (+3.6%) and Consumer Electronics (+0.7%) in Q1 2010. Smartphones, Windows 7 and LCD TVs are all driving factors of growth in their respective sectors.

Smartphones continue to drive growth in the Telecommunications market

While the telecommunications market declined by -3.2% in the fourth quarter 2009, the first quarter of 2010 returned to growth with a +4.9% increase year on year.

Users of Google Chrome are young and heavy users of the internet. By attracting this demographic they are best placed to topple Internet Explorer from top spot in the browser wars.

We recently showed that Internet Explorer’s UK market share is being eroded by the recent EU enforced . Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome are the main beneficiaries as they continue to increase their share of the internet browser market, but where exactly is this growth coming from? We have used the GfK browser data to understand who exactly is using the different browsers and what this all means.

Since Windows introduced a browser ballot at the start of March, GfK Technology research shows that Internet Explorer has lost market share in the UK. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have been the main beneficiaries of this new EU enforced regulation.

It was inevitable that Internet Explorer would lose some of its market share when its users were offered alternative browsers at the start of March. The EU thought it was essential that consumers should be offered a choice of browser, to stimulate competition in the browser market.

Early data suggests that when faced with an option, UK consumers have opted for an alternative browser. As we approach the end of March we can see that since the beginning of the month Internet Explorer’s market share in the UK has dropped 5%, with Google Chrome and Firefox each gaining an additional 3% market share.