Android tablets tipped to outsell iPads

A surge of smaller, lower-priced tablet devices will eat into Apple's grip of the lucrative tablet market in 2013, new research shows.International Data Corp his increased its 2013 forecast for the worldwide tablet market to 191 million, up from its previous forecast of 172.4 million units. By the end of 2017, tablet shipments are expected to be upwards of 350 million units.Throughout 2012, Android-based tablets expanded their share of the market notably and IDC expects that trend to continue in 2013.IDC predicts Android's share of the tablet market will peak at 48.8% this year compared to 41.5% in IDC's previous forecast.Its gains come at the expense of Apple's iOS, which is expected to slip from 51% of the market in 2012 to 46% in 2013.Longer term, both iOS and Android will eventually relinquish some market share to Windows-based tablets, with Windows 8 predicted to grow from 1% of the market in 2012 to 7.4% in 2017.IDC expects Windows RT growth to remain below 3% during the forecast period."One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size. And in terms of shipments, we expect smaller tablets to continue growing in 2013 and beyond," Jitesh Ubrani, research Aanalyst for IDC's Tablet Tracker, said."Vendors are moving quickly to compete in this space as consumers realise that these small devices are often more ideal than larger tablets for their daily consumption habits."While IDC continues to revise its tablet forecast upward, the firm had done the opposite with the eReader forecast.The growth of low-cost tablets is clearly damaging the prospects of the single-use eReader and IDC reduced its forecast for the category by an average of 14% between 2013 and 2016.After declining to 18.2 million units in 2012, the category is expected to grow only modestly in 2013 and 2014, before it begins a gradual and permanent decline beginning in 2015.