According to a research on Japanese market trend of smart devices (smartphones and tablets) conducted by ICT Research & Consulting Inc., the volume of shipment for smart devices in 2013 reached the record high with 36.970 million, which was 7% increase compared with the figure from the previous year.
ICT Research & Consulting points out that the rate of market growth for smart devices has quiet down a little compared with the past few years, however its shipment volume exceeds that of notebook PCs and feature phones by 3.3 times. They also foresee that the volume of shipment for smart devices in 2017 will count 43.52 million which would be 18% increase compared with the same figure from 2013, as they have become the leading player of the carry around devices.
Among the smart devices, growth of tablets is especially notable. Percentage of tablets among all smart devices accounted for 19.5% in 2013, and it is expected to expand to 28.6% in 2017. Moreover, the volume of shipment for tablets in 2015 is expected to reach 10.41 million, overtaking the volume of shipment for notebook PC which is expected to be 8.62 million.
Also, demand for corporate use is expected to grow. In 2013, the volume of shipment for corporations was 9.9% (3.64 million) of all smart device shipments, but it is anticipated to achieve higher growth rate than personal use because many corporations are expected to replace their notebook PCs.
In addition, among the 4.000 monitors who replied, 26.1% of them carry around “more than 2” terminal devices at the present and it will increase to 35.5% a year later.
On the other hand, 15.3% carry around “smartphone & feature phone” but this number will decrease in a year. However those carrying around “smartphone & tablet (WiFi model)” will reach 10.4%, thus users will demand more diversified combinations of terminal devices depending upon call and communication rates they use.
