Samsung is predicting sales of some 1 million Galaxy Tab tablets and 20 million Galaxy S smartphones in 2010, according to reports.
Samsung predicts it will sell more than 1 million Galaxy Tab units and 20
million Galaxy S smartphones by the end of 2010, according to online reports.
In addition, the company plans to introduce additional tablet form factors into
the marketplace, seeking to press its rivalry with the Apple iPad while
blunting competition from other Android-based tablet manufacturers.
"Various tablet sizes will be launched by many companies next year. In
order to cement our strong presence in the tablet market, Samsung is preparing
other kinds of tablet devices," J.K. Shin, president of Samsung's mobile
business,
reportedly
told the audience during a Nov. 4 press conference in Seoul.
According to Dow Jones Newswires, Shin also suggested that Samsung will aim
to double its Galaxy S shipments in 2011.
In a bid to eat into the iPad's market share, Samsung will debut the Galaxy
Tab alongside multiple carrier partners. T-Mobile, Verizon,
U.S. Cellular, AT&T
and Sprint will all offer data plans for the 7-inch tablet in the United
States. On top of that, Samsung hopes the
device's 3G connectivity, video conferencing, Android 2.2 operating system and
support for Adobe Flash will help differentiate it from Apple's offering.
According to research firm iSuppli, the Galaxy Tab's parts cost $205.22,
less than the estimated $264.27 for the 16GB iPad with 3G. "Instead of
matching up the iPad on a feature-by-feature basis, the Galaxy Tab really is
[a] larger version of Samsung's Galaxy S smartphone," Andrew Rassweiler,
director, principal analyst and teardown services manager for iSuppli,
wrote
in a Nov. 1 statement. "While the design approach makes the Galaxy
less expensive to produce than the iPad 3G, it also makes for a product that
lacks the same usability."
The iPad currently holds 95.5 percent of the worldwide market for tablets,
according
to research firm Strategy Analytics, up from 94.3 percent the previous
quarter. Android-based tablets hold 2.9 percent of that market, although major
competitors such as the Galaxy Tab have yet to make their presence fully known.
"We expect Android's share to rise in the fourth quarter as more models
... enter the market," states the Nov. 2 report from Strategy Analytics.
"The tablet wars are up and running," Neil Mawston, a director for
Strategy Analytics, wrote in an accompanying statement. "Apple has quickly
leveraged its famous brand, an extensive retail presence and user-friendly
design to develop the tablet segment into a multi-billion-dollar global
business. Android, Microsoft, MeeGo, WebOS, BlackBerry and other platforms are
trailing in Apple's wake and they already have much ground to make up."
General analyst consensus is that the tablet market will increase markedly
over the next few years.
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