From IT News Africa

Shipments of tablet PCs to South Africa increased 107.1% year on year in the final quarter of 2013 to total 513,000 units, according to the latest insights from the International Data Corporation (IDC). The country’s traditional PC market suffered a better-than-predicted 18.8% decline over the same period to 427,000 units, while there was more positive news for all-in-one (AiO) devices and convertible notebooks.

“The decline in PC shipments can be attributed to the weak rand, high unemployment rate, poverty, and cannibalization from tablet devices,” says Joseph Hlongwane, a research analyst at IDC South Africa. “As is the case in all high-tech markets, tablets have grown exponentially since their introduction in South Africa and the trend is expected to continue along a similar path in the coming years. Their success in the computing space has been driven primarily by their mobility benefits, touchscreentechnology, and competitive price points.”

“The majority of end users use tablet devices to surf the Internet and access social media, so tablets that can fit in one hand are seeing a tremendous increase in demand,” continues Hlongwane. “This is clearly reflected in the growing popularity of tablets with a screen size between 7″ and 8″, which resulted in shipments of such devices increasing 208.5% year on year in Q4 2013 to total 369,000 units.”

Read more at IT News Africa