Phl fastest growing market for tablets in Asia

MANILA, Philippines - More and more Filipinos are now preferring tablets over laptops as dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. continue to upgrade their respective networks.

A study conducted by global research firm GfK showed that sales of tablets in the Philippines almost quadrupled to 455,000 over the last 12 months from 107,800 a year ago.

On the other hand, sales of laptops plunged 21 percent to 689,000 units compared to the previous year's 870,000.

The survey period was conducted from June last year to May this year and the comparable period is from June 2011 to May 2012.

Filipinos are now choosing tablets and smartphones that are easy and convenient compared to laptops as telecom providers now provide “superfast” Internet services through their long term evolution (LTE) networks.

The PLDT Group last year completed its P67.1 billion network upgrade and is spending another P29 billion for its capital expenditures this year while Globe finished its $700 million network modernization and transformation program last March and has allocated an additional $500 million for this year.

GfK reported an increasingly connected society in Southeast Asia seeking gratification for instant connectivity via portable devices such as tablets and laptops that sold over 14 million units over the past 12 months amid improved internet infrastructure in the region.

GfK said demand for both tablets and laptops jumped 32 percent to hit combined sales of nearly 14.2 million in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Both the laptop and tablet markets reported sales surge in this region albeit at significantly differing level of growth.

Although laptops continued to make up more than half the combined sales volume at 57 percent, GfK account director for technology Gerard Tan said the segment’s growth rate for Southeast Asia stood at four percent.

On the other hand, Tan said demand for the fast growing tablet segment posted a growth of 101 percent during the review period.

“Consumers in the region’s developing markets eager to get their hands on the latest tablets and laptops spurred the overall market’s strong double digit growth rate in the range of 11 to 54 percent,” Tan stressed.

 â€œHowever, it is mainly the tablet market which has been the key growth propeller with four of the six countries reporting more than twofold incremental sales volume,” he added.

Tan noted that the Philippines emerged as the most robust market in terms of tablet sales.

“The most robust market appears to be the Philippines where tablet take up rate in the last 12 months grew over fourfold, at 322 percent. Nearly 455,000 of this device flew off the shelves in June 2012 to May 2013,” he said.

Indonesia emerged as the largest tablet market accounting for nearly 1.3 million units or over a third of total tablet sales volume in the region with consumers snapping up one in every three units of all tablets sold across the six markets.

Compared to the previous year, demand for tablets in Indonesia surged 141 percent in the latest one year period.

 â€œIt is worth highlighting that cost of tablets in all of the markets have dipped significantly over the past year, averaging at around 27 percent throughout the region,” observed Tan. “

Not surprisingly, the competitive marketplace is inundated with countless international and local brands and models, 180 brands across Southeast Asia last year to be precise, giving consumers wide variety of options that can suit any type of budget.”

For instance, Indonesia and Thailand carry over 60 tablet brands in their respective local markets, availing consumers in the country around 300 and 240 models to choose from.

Not surprising, prices of tablets are also lowest here, selling at an average price of $357 and $408 respectively. On the other hand, in Singapore where there are only around 29 brands, average tablet price was highest last year at $525.

Meanwhile laptop sales continued to surge in Indonesia and Thailand by 17 and 16 percent respectively, while Philippines and Singapore fell into the negative growth range.

 â€œLaptops are definitely facing stiff competition from tablets as they present a possibly more inexpensive and comparable option for consumers seeking a slightly larger portable smart device with stronger capabilities than smartphones,” said Tan.

 â€œHowever, laptops have their own unique functions and are able to perform tasks which tablets may not be able to, so both products have their own unique space in the market.”

“Moving forward, Tan said GfK anticipates a more vibrant and competitive marketplace as manufacturers of both tablets and laptops come out with newer and more innovative features to vie for the consumer dollar.

GfK is one of the world’s largest research companies, around 13,000 experts working to discover new insights into the way people live, think and shop, in over 100 markets, every day.

In 2012, GfK’s sales amounted to €1.51 billion.