Tablet market destined for shake-up

The current state of the tablet market may not resemble what it will look like in the coming few years. As more vendors emerge and technological advances unfold, the tablet market could be in for some significant changes.

Since 2010, Apple's iPad® has been king of the tablet market. It was the first to arrive at the scene and has enjoyed the view from the top ever since. However, experts do not expect the iPad to reign supreme forever, or at least not with the wide margin by which it does today. Tablets from other manufacturers running on other operating systems are already chipping away at Apple's lead and are likely to level the competition in the coming years.

New capabilities and technology will also shape the tablet market going forward. Chipmaker NVIDIA® recently announced the first quad-core processor for tablet computers, a development that could make the mobile devices significantly more powerful. As these and other advances unfold, the state of the tablet industry is likely to change alongside them.

Research firm Gartner estimates more than 326 million tablets will ship in 2015, up from approximately 63 million in 2011. As the tablet market continues to thrive, it will undoubtedly continue to evolve as well.