From IT News Africa

In 2013, the global market of tablets experienced a slight slowdown. Previously, this market showed spectacular growth these last few years. The analysts now fear that the stagnation will come due to a saturated market in developed countries; therefore, manufacturers are going to face an important evolution of the market in 2014, in particular through the transition towards emerging markets and especially Africa. Our focus is on this new landscape with the example of MySimax, a startup company, looking at the delivery of tablets and application for the emerging markets in Africa.

Stagnation of the sales in developed countries

Starting in 2010 with the IPad launch by Apple, the development of the market of tablets has been spectacular showing growth rates above 100% every year. According to the cabinet IDC, the sales of tablets in 2013 reached once again a historical record with about 220 million devices all over the world. Nevertheless, the market shows a significant deceleration of the growth (50% year by year).

Indeed, while the beginning of the 2013 year did not show any sign of further moderation of the growth with an increase of 140% in the first quarter, this figure dropped steadily during the year to stabilize under 30% in the last quarter of the past year.

The experts are concerned in particular about the possibility of a saturation of the market. In developed countries mainly, it seems that the level of household equipment is now very high. As we enter 2014, the major stake will be to renew the demand by moving toward new markets. To this end we should employee two levers: the establishment in emerging countries with high potential, where the equipment saturation rates are still very low, as well as the development of tablets adapted to new kind of usages, both educational and professional use.

Expend in Africa: the example of MySimax

According to Daxue Consulting, these emerging markets experienced a growth of about 145 % in 2013, while the mature markets had a limit of 30 %. Among these emerging markets, many African countries show high-potential. Many of them still offer great openings for brand establishment. Indeed, while some of the most powerful brands have already met with success in emerging countries, as Apple already grabbed 50% of market shares in China, many African countries offer the unique opportunity to be seen as a pioneer and a privileged partner because of their low equipment rate and their strong needs.

Read more at IT News Africa