Apple should sell 22.5 million iPads in 2011, controlling half the 45 million tablets likely sold. The prediction comes from an unlikely source: ViewSonic, maker of an iPad rival. ViewSonic, maker of the just-released ViewPad 7, hopes to get 10 percent of the remaining non-iPad tablet purchases – or around 2 million units.
ViewSonic’s Asia Pacific president, Alan Chang, believes tablets will eventually force the phase-out of netbooks in Taiwan. The company’s 10-inch iPad alternative now uses Android, but will also offer a Windows 7 version.
The Taiwan-based company’s comments are conservative when compared to analysts’ expectations for iPad sales in 2011. Apple may sell nearly three out of every four tablets purchased in 2010, slipping to just over 61 percent of sales by 2012, according to one hardware analysis firm. Speaking of potential rivals, iSuppli recently announced it will take time for others to catch up to Apple.
“If recent history is a lesson, it will take some time for these companies to get their products to market, longer for them to offer necessary software support and infrastructure, and an even lengthier period to begin to rival the overall user experience Apple is able to deliver,” Rhoda Alexander, iSuppli monitor research director, announced.
Unlike ViewSonic’ Change, Acer Chairman JT Wang sees Apple maintaining only 20-30 percent of tablet sales once rivals fully enter the market.
