With dozens of possible tablets rushing to market in the wake of Apple’s iPad success, suppliers reportedly are straining under the pressure. Tablet shipments will more than triple to 57.6 million this year, with the iPad comprising 70.4 percent of that.
As a result, suppliers are “forced to gamble production capacity on the unrealistically high projections of their tablet customers,” one tablet display executive warns. The gamble means we may see either shortages or excesses in 2011.
With Apple holding onto 61.7 percent of the market in 2012, component industry analyst firm iSuppli predicts dozens of rival companies fighting for the remaining 38.3 percent market share. As a result, we likely will see unused displays heavily discounted, as well as some hardware attempts scrapped. The rush to tablets also means more cuts in demand for netbooks.
Because Apple has control of the majority of the tablet displays, consumers aren’t likely to revisit the early days when the ‘magical’ iPad was harder to find than a dragon’s tooth. Apple likely will report next week favorable sales of its iPad during the previous quarter due to supplies finally meeting demand, one analyst noted Thursday.
