Analysts say iPad helps Apple's real PC share

Apple is effectively already in the top five computer builders worldwide through the iPad, analysts argued today. Making the contentious claim that the tablet is equivalent to a netbook, Canalys said Apple's 3.27 million iPads were enough to give it six percent of the portable computer market by itself. Adding Macs would put Apple in the same company as ASUS, Lenovo and Toshiba for market share.

The researchers also echoed beliefs that netbook growth is slowing and said this could be a mounting problem for traditional PC builders if they can't provide something noticeably better than an iPad for key experiences.

Critics have argued that the iPad isn't yet a real computing platform as customers are limited in where they can get apps and what these are allowed to do. They also note it can't yet do full multitasking, background updating or other features common to a desktop OS. However, many of its apps perform functions closer to those of netbooks and notebooks, and advocates have noted the iPad's performance is often subjectively better than that of an Intel Atom- and Windows-based portable.

Tablets, or "pad PCs" according to Canalys, are expected to reach 12.5 million devices shipped just in 2010, most of which should be iPads. Apple is poised to walk away with the majority of the market through at least 2011 simply because it launched early. Many of the early entries from rivals will be experiments that could involve both home-oriented devices like the HP PalmPad but also work-specific slates like the Cisco Cius and possibly the rumored BlackBerry tablet.

The analysts are optimistic enough about tablet sales that they expect the category to overtake netbooks as soon as 2012 and for the market to surge five times higher by 2014, to 66 million devices.

By Electronista Staff