TORONTO — Twenty-five per cent of tablets sold this year will be bought by enterprises, according to Duncan Stewart, Deloitte’s director of research, technology, media and telecommunications.
Stewart presented his predictions at Deloitte Canada’s annual Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions on Tuesday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Stewart presented half of the predictions. Paul Lee wrote the rest of the Deloitte predictions, while Paul Kedrosky presented his own predictions.
“Four hundred twenty-five million tablets and smart phones are going to sell this year,” Stewart said.
The popularity of the tablets selling in the market will not, however, affect the sell of traditional computers like laptops or desktop PCs according to Stewart.
Instead almost 400 million PCs will also sell this year. For smart phones and tablets, there will continue to be operating system diversity. This means there will be no sole company owning the market; no one will have control of 90 per cent of the market. Operating system Nokia Symbian holds 42 per cent of the current market, while Canadian company Research in Motion Limited has 25 per cent. Research in Motion is also expected to become less popular this year, according to Kedrosky’s predictions.
Tablets will be entering industries such as retail and health. They will be particularly useful in retail for customers to comparison shop.
They will also be useful in the medical industry, where unlike desktop computers and monitors, they will be easier to wipe down after use, preventing the spread of germs.
While employees of enterprise businesses will be using the tablets and smart phones, they won’t have access to the same speeds as in the U.S., according to Stewart.
Among Deloitte’s other predictions:
* CD music sales will continue to plummet and in one market, probably the US, music downloads will be higher than CD sales.
* Television as an industry will continue to flourish because only 70 per cent of content is available online. People will continue to buy TVs and watch cable.
* Commercials on television are also continuing to sell.