Tablet PCs to Encroach on Notebook Territory in a Big Way

Posted 07/15/2010 at 6:44am | by Paul Lilly

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Depending on who you talk with, this whole tablet thing is going to be huge. How big exactly? According to a report from Goldman Sachs, global tablet PCs in 2011 will reach 16.4 million units. That number will more than double in 2011 to 35 million units.

Wrap your head around those numbers for a moment. If Goldman Sachs' prediction comes to fruition, then tablets will affect 40 percent of the global demand for notebooks in less than 2 years time. That's nearly half, folks.

Apple stands to gain the most from all of this, at least in the short term. In 2010, Apple's iPad will account for 93 percent of all tablet shipments, Goldman Sachs says. By 2011, that number will only drop off to 75 percent, or still three quarters of all tablets.

Whether all this plays out like Goldman Sachs predicts remains to be seen, but those who might view this as nothing more than a passing fad would be wise to look back on the early days of netbooks. AMD in particular opted to take a wait-and-see approach to netbooks, which only helped Intel to dominate the market with its Atom platform. And here again, AMD recently said it's taking the same sideline approach to tablets. If Goldman Sachs is right in their assessment, that could end up a costly mistake (again).