Tablet Fever

If you needed any evidence of the growing popularity of tablets then the weekend brought it with the arrival of Aldi’s Medion Lifetab in store. The tablets arrived and duly sold old out across all stores in just one weekend.

The key factor here was clearly price with the Lifetab retailing at under £80 but tablets at all price points are flying off the shelves with almost 6 million units being sold in the first six months of 2013 and Christmas now bringing a major boom.

Low Priced Tablets

Aldi’s Medion Lifetab rivals Tesco’s Hudl device which retails for £119 and has sold 300,000 units since its September launch. Both Tablets use the Android operating system but the Tesco tablet has 16GB of built in memory whereas the Aldi device offers 8GB. Argos have also entered the Market with MyTablet and a quick look at their site today reveals these are already out of stock unless you happen to want a pink one!

On the Go

The reasonably priced tablets are no doubt appealing to parents who don’t want to spend a fortune on a device for their kids which will primarily be used for playing games and watching movies on the go.

These tablets and the now very reasonably priced Amazon Kindle Fire are also perfect for those who simply want an e-reader and a means to pick up their emails and it is not difficult to see why there has been such an explosion in sales. Books and movies on the go are also proving to be a big hit with commuters so the days of being cornered on the train by a passenger waving a broad sheet in your face could be over.

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Smartwatches

Whilst there seems to be no stopping tablets even at the pricier end of the market where the devices appeal to business users and students, wearable technology has not proved to be such a success. The arrival of smartwatches was greeted with something of a fanfare and with record breaking feats achieved with funding on Kickstarter these devices looked set for big sales which simply haven’t materialised.

There are no precise retail figures available but all the indications are that take up has been slow. As a new smartwatch arrives seemingly every week this does not auger well for the new products coming to market. The stampede of investors into these projects appear to have backed the wrong horse.

Functionality

The chief issue here is that smartwatches offer no discernible advantage over a mobile phone. Thus far they are merely a wearable alternative offering no new functionality and require another mobile device to be present.

Whilst techies will always jump on the latest new gadget the rest of the population are looking for some bang for their buck and are clearly resting their case with their phones and the larger screens of the tablets for greater flexibility.

No smartwatch has yet defined a place for itself in the market and until someone finds that new functionality and special niche they look set to bump around in no man’s land whilst tablets surge forward.

Meanwhile as technology marches ever onwards the traditional quality timepiece is more popular than ever. There may be a tablet in every handbag and briefcase but when it comes to our wrists some things never go out of fashion.

Rose Finchley

About the Author:

Sally Stacey is a keen writer and business owner who divides her time between running her bridal shop and writing.