7″ iPad, Nexus, Win8: Tabs To EXPLODE

Apple iPad to remain king of tabs, as a new school of mini-devices hit.

But there’s nothing mini about tablet sales figures – as the Aussie tablet market swells 188% in the first six months of 2012, according to analysts Telsyte.

And sales look set to to reach a massive 2.37 million by the end of the year.

This stunning year-on-year growth for H1 comes as Apple gets ready to unveil a 7.85″ iPad mini (apparently), and Google just released the Nexus 7 for $249, which looks set to send demand soaring even further.

And that’s not even mentioning the slew of tabs that will be arriving soon working on Microsoft’s Windows 8.

Telsyte is also predicting Microsoft’s own branded Windows 8 Surface RT tablets will be competitively priced when released later this year.

However, Apple will remain king of the tabs and the market leader as Telsyte estimates its share will remain around 75% of the market for ‘at least’ the next year.

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More than half of the population is forecast to be using a media tablet by 2016, comparable to smartphone penetration today, meaning every man and his (or her) dog will be staring into their 10″ or ultra portable 7″ screens on streets, buses and the beach.

“Within four years half the population will be relying on such a device for a lot of their computing needs, covering education, entertainment, productivity and other applications,” Telsyte research director, Foad Fadaghi, says.

Tablets are a rapidly growing opportunity for vendors and media, Fadaghi also adds, and some industry watchers believe the iPad mini et al could help a revival of the ailing newspaper industry.

Wi-Fi-only media tablets are also growing in popularity with home usage emerging as a primary usage area.

Telsyte estimates that the population penetration of media tablets is currently around 15 per cent and is set to double to 30 per cent in 2013.