Apple's dominance of the US$3.4Bn global tablet market eroding

The global tablet market is seeing a number of key competitors making inroads into Apple's dominance of tablet devices. The table market used to be considered by consumers as high-end luxurious computer accessories although equivalent competitor models to Apple are forcing prices in a downward direction. Low cost tablets are now available at less than US$250.

The global tablet market was dominated by Apple until 2010 when the first signs of competition were apparent. Two years on, and Apple's dominance in the tablet market has reduced with the sector now valued at US$3.44 billion by the end of 2012.

Samsung are now marketing equivalent tablet products which are highly competitive against the iPad manufactured by Apple. This has seen the onset of large intellectual property legal cases being undertaken in the United States and also Korea. The United States legal case was won by Apple with the South Korean equivalent favouring a split decision case.

A South Korea court on the 29th September 2012 delivered a split decision in its piece of the global legal battle between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. over mobile computing patents.

A three-judge panel in Seoul Central District Court said Apple infringed two Samsung technology patents, while Samsung violated one of Apple's patents. The court awarded small damages to both companies and said they must halt sales of the infringing products in South Korea.

It has now been highlighted that LG Display has recently launched a patent suit against Samsung over OLED screens.

The market is becoming a highly competitive market place as the market leaders move to protect their lucractive sales and price point whilst newcomers attempt to take a share of this expanding market place with lower cost alternatives in the tablet market.

The low cost tablet market is forecast to expand rapidly over the next five years in the developing world. The top producers of tablet computers are Acer; Amazon; Apple; Archos; Asus; Barnes & Noble; Datawind; Dell; ePAD/aPAD/MID; HP; Google; Huawei; HTC; Lenovo; LePan; Microsoft; Motorola; NAT PC; Research in Motion; Samsung; Toshiba and ZTE.

For more information on the global tablet market, see the latest research: Global Tablet Market

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