The Turkish media tablet market experienced strong year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2013 and maintained higher-than-predicted shipment rates. According to leading ICT market analysis and advisory firm International Data Corporation, media tablet shipments expanded 264.5% year on year in Q2 2013 to reach 746,499 units for the quarter.
Although there were some antigovernment Gezi Park protests around the end of May and a decline in consumer confidence on the back of unfavorable exchange rates, these factors did not negatively impact demand in the tablet market. IDC now predicts that tablet shipments for the whole of 2013 will exceed those of portable PCs in Turkey, as the PC market is expected to experience a considerable decline until the year end.
“Despite the existence of low-quality brands in the market and tablets harboring some inferior technical features when compared to PCs, the majority of consumers seem satisfied with tablets for their core use cases,” says Ayse Kaptanoglu, a research analyst at IDC. “It is very clear that some tablet vendors are not yet aggressive enough in the market, but this situation is expected to have changed by the beginning of next year. Certain sub-categories of the tablet market, including Far East-manufactured toy tablets and low-end products from more affordable local brands, will also continue to see growth initially, but this is expected to be shortlived as the major tablet vendors will introduce more affordable products to the market, boosting their competitiveness.”
The rapidly growing mobility trend in Turkey has led this shift in consumer spending toward tablets. And with telcos now utilizing promotional campaigns to push 3G/4G tablets through various channels in an attempt to increase the penetration of connectivity, the media tablet market is expected grow at robust quarter-on-quarter rates for several quarters to come.
In terms of market share in the second quarter of 2013, Apple ranked as the leading vendor, capturing the largest market share at 18.1%, followed by Samsung with 17.8% and local vendor, Casper, with 12.3%.
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