GfK: Sales of tablet PCs still growing

Business sales account for a growing wedge of the overall market, analyst claims

Tablet PCs are still leading the pack when it comes to IT product sales in the first six months of the year, rocketing by more than 140 per cent, research from GfK has revealed.

And business uptake of these devices is also on the increase.

In research compiled for the IFA trade fair in Berlin, the analyst's results showed the focus of sales in the six main European markets of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain has been on mobile devices and unrestricted internet access, with sales of ultra mobile/ultra-thin notebooks and e-readers soaring as a result.

Media tablet sales have grown by 142 per cent in the first half of 2012, the research found. Although still mostly through private customers, increasingly they are being bought by corporates, GfK revealed.

In total, businesses accounted for more than 13 per cent of total media tablet sales.

According to GfK,the boom in demand for iPads and similar appliances is also stimulating sales in other segments which have previously been stagnating, such as special keyboards to make web access quicker and easier.

GfK's research also pointed to the fact that increasing numbers of IT products are finding their way into western European households as the digital way of life continues to expand, with a growing number owning up to three devices - a desktop PC, a netbook or notebook and a tablet PC.