A new study revealed by NDP reveals that tablets would overtake PCs as the most popular mobile PC by the year 2016. In the research, NDP identify tablets as the "growth driver" for the mobile computer market.

The study reveals that presently, there are a total of 121 million shipped tablets and this figure would reach a total of 416 million shipped tablets by the year 2017. In terms of overall mobile PC shipments (including tablets), the figures would certainly grow from 347 million in 2012 to 809 million by 2017.

One reason identified for this growth is the growing demand for developed and mature markets. The countries identified as such includes North America, Western Europe and Japan. Japan currently has 66 per cent of all tablet shipments and NPD predicts that this market share in tablets for Japan would continue for the next five years. This means that Japan would have 254 million units shipped in 2017 which is a big number if compared to the 80 million units shipped for 2012. The study also mentioned that most vendors are focused on developing their new products to these mature markets.

In terms of tablet vendors, Apple still remains to have a strong hold over the tablet market. Figures revealed that Apple's iPad has 62.8 per cent market share in terms of tablets while Samsung ranks second with only a 7.5 per cent market share. It remains to be seen if Microsoft and Google, which both launched their own tablets, would be a big competitor in the tablet market.

The rise of tablets has a considerable effect as the sales of notebooks are declining. This trend does not necessarily mean that notebooks would be totally out of the picture. It would just experience a slower growth rate (lower than 28 per cent) in the market. NDP stated that presently, there are 208 million notebooks shipped and by 2017, it would only grow to a total of 393 million notebook shipped.

Richard Shim, senior analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, explained the research study further in his statement. Here is an excerpt from his statement:

"Consumer preference for mobile computing devices is shifting from notebook to tablet PCs, particularly in mature markets. While the lines between tablet and notebook PCs are blurring, we expect mature markets to be the primary regions for tablet PC adoption. New entrants are tending to launch their initial products in mature markets. Services and infrastructure needed to create compelling new usage models are often better established in mature markets."