Short Takes: Tablets Heading for the Mainstream

Tablets are a big hit with US Internet users. So much so, that over a third of them will be using the devices by 2014, according to eMarketer’s latest guesstimate. Driven by the iPad, 14.5 percent of users currently use a tablet at least once a month, representing 158 percent growth over 2010, the firm’s research suggests. That figure will jump to 35.6 percent by 2014, though, as sales of the devices remain strong.

Despite growing competition, Apple is expected to continue its dominance of the market, with the iPad accounting for 68 percent of tablet use by 2014. That’s a reduction compared with the 83 percent of the market it currently owns, though. Of course, the iPad didn’t even exist two years ago, so predictions for 2014 seem speculative at best. It remains to be seen what effect new tablet entrants such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire will have on the market, particularly since it was launched at under half the price of the iPad.