‘Phablets’ category unlikely to succeed: Gartner analyst
A Gartner analyst believes the opportunities for companies in phablets category might not be huge, as they might be thinking.
Even as the top mobile companies including the likes of Samsung and HTC are launching smartphones with 5-inch or larger screens, an analyst at research firm Gartner Inc believes ‘phablets’ are unlikely to woo majority of global consumers.
According to CK Lu, senior analyst of mobile devices at Gartner in Taipei, phablets may provide more choice to multi-device owners, but the opportunities for the companies may not be large in the long term as they might be thinking.
“We continue to believe it is a niche market,” Lu is quoted as saying, pointing out the phablets have managed to attract consumers in certain markets only. For example, he added, Asian users prefer only one mobile device because of the limited budget on electronic products, so phablets are getting popular in this segment. But customers in the U.S. and Europe, who already have smartphones and tablets, may prefer devices with separate purposes.
According to the analyst, companies can benefit by creating apps that leverage the large screens.
The remarks come days after a Cyber Media report that revealed growing popularity of the phablets in India. The report said phablets constituted around 16.5 percent of the total sales in 2012, the trend is expected to continue in the coming quarters.
“At CMR we used to consider Tablet as a device with screen size of 5-inch or larger. But, with the definite emergence of ‘Phablets’ as a sustainable form factor in its own right, we will now consider only devices of 7-inch screen size and above as Tablets for the purpose of market analysis. Other parameters of the CMR definition of Tablet devices will remain unchanged. Moreover, we will continue to track and report ‘Phablets’ as a separate category of mobile device in the hands of individual consumers and enterprise users.” said Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Telecoms Analyst, CMR.
Source: Taipei Times