Tablet shipments forecast to hit quarter of a billion by 2015

The number of tablet computers being shipped to markets around the world each year will reach almost 250 million before the end of 2015, according to the latest predictions from IHS iSuppli researchers.

Devices like the iPad from Apple and first-generation Android offerings like the Galaxy Tab from Samsung have been selling well in recent months but the latest forecasts on the future of the sector suggest 2010's figures will be dwarfed in years to come.

The company behind the new study insists that the progress of the tablet sector worldwide will be marked by three distinct period, the first of which came last year when the iPad burst onto the consumer technology landscape and generated sustained demand for a new kind of product. The second period is likely to be marked by the arrival of a huge number of rivals to the iPad, primarily based on up-dated versions of Google’s Android operating system.

And then, according to IHS iSuppli, the third period of progress will see a trend towards full PC capability, with Microsoft tipped to be at the forefront as tablets become more fully functional.

“The year 2013 will mark a critical juncture, as the tablet market turns into a battleground between media tablets using mobile operating systems, and PC-type tablets employing the Windows operating system,” said Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor research at IHS iSuppli.

“Microsoft and the PC makers will engage in a vicious battle to fight off the ongoing share grab from media tablets, even as many of these vendors offer media tablet solutions of their own.”

Earlier this month, the research firm Strategy Analytics predicted that Android-operated tablet PCs will out-number their iOS counterparts within the next two years.

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