2011 Consumer Electronics Trends

The Year of the Tablet

Without doubt 2011 will be the year of the tablet.

Apple’s launch of the iPad has left an undeniable print on the mobile computing space. After a decade with minimal success, a tablet computing device is (finally) garnering mass market appeal.

There are many factors driving this trend – not least of which is timing. The global appeal of Apple’s iPad is simultaneously brazening others to enter the fold and compete for this quickly growing market.

While many firms are touting product launches within the tablet sphere for the fourth quarter of 2010, the real action will occur a few weeks after the end of the quarter at CES. This same timeline played out last year with a similar device – eReaders. While we saw scattered product launches in the fourth quarter most were reserved for CES.

At the 2010 International CES we saw a dozen plus new eReaders revealed – with many of these devices just now coming to market. Design cycles as they are mean tablets are really a 2011 story, not as much a 2010 one, and CES will mark the debut for many of these. I have a list of 80+ tablets that have been announced and many of these will see the light of day at the 2011 CES.
With competition heating up, each and every aspect of differentiation will be on the table – OS, screen size, color, and available applications. As a product matures, aspects like screen sizes consolidate. Look at the flat panel market where screens mostly group around 32″, 37″, 42″, 46″, 55″, etc. But with a nascent category like tablets these normal have yet to be established so everything is on the table (pun intended).

Significant growth for a nascent category will also propel adjacent, but not to be overlooked markets like accessories. Expect to see the 2011 CES explode with not only cases and bags but also a wide selection of items like Bluetooth-enabled devices specifically targeting the tablet space.

Recent research undertaken by CES shows consumers associate the tablet more with the mobile phone than with the computer. This is not widely appreciated but it will influence the tablet-related offerings at CES 2011.