PC manufacturers forced into tablet market against Apple

Lenovo could be the dark horse to watch, says management consultant

Computer hardware manufacturers are being forced into the tablet market by cannibalisation, according to a report from management consultants PRTM.

The growth of the enterprise and consumer tablet markets has left established vendors like HP, Dell and Lenovo with little choice but to produce tablets given the speed with which they are replacing some system sectors.

"PC makers have been through the loop of the PC as a commodity product and now see that their margins are in supporting enterprises with custom builds. My view is we could look to the PC world for dynamics in the tablet market," PRTM director Huw Andrews told V3.co.uk.

Andrews explained that the tablet market is highly fragmented. Around 55 per cent of the 102 new tablets announced use Android, 30 per cent Windows and 25 per cent iOS and other operating systems. This is causing problems with IT support given the tightness of budgets.

Apple has a very strong foothold in hi-tech industries like the media, he said, but more conservative companies are looking for specific business applications and hardware to suit their workforces. This opens the door for PC manufacturers to ship lower cost custom tablet systems.

Android is coming from behind in the business market, and Microsoft has a real opportunity to establish Windows in the tablet market in a way not seen on smartphones, according to Andrews.

The plethora of manufacturers could also lead to new entrants doing well. The report found that less than 30 per cent of tablets come from companies with a global brand, and that a large percentage come from China.

"Lenovo is one company to watch. It has a big domestic market, and think about what it's capable of doing. Plus, it has very few consumer sales, so must concentrate on the enterprise market," Andrews said.

Lenovo used this year’s CES to show off its IdeaPad U1 hybrid notebook and the LePad tablet, and upgraded its ThinkPad tablet range last week.