Tablet Cannibalization on the Rise in 2011

Nearly 56 million tablets will be shipped in 2011–200 percent more than were shipped in 2010. That’s the latest forecast from NPD’s DisplaySearch, which expects that number to hit 172.4 million by 2014. That’s 35 percent of the overall mobile PC market, which also includes the notebooks and mini-notes whose sales NPD says the tablet is cannibalizing, particularly in mature markets where the percentage of households that already own PCs are highest.

Hardly a surprise given recent trends. Recall that retail notebooks in the United States have been charting decelerating growth for months now, driven largely by the iPad. Now with RIM’s PlayBook, Hewlett-Packard’s “PalmPad” and dozens of other tablets headed to market it’s only going to slow further.

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• Forecast: 19 Million Notebooks Lost to Tablet Cannibalization (Meaning iPad) in 2011
• IPad: Tonight We Feast on Laptop Flesh!
• Apple: The iPad Isn’t Cannibalizing the Mac, But We Sure Hope It’s Cannibalizing the PC
• IPad No Cannibal, Says Analyst
• Apple’s iPad: Angel or Cannibal?