Samsung Galaxy Tab preferred over Apple’s iPad; RIM’s Playbook is # 3. Sales of Tablet computers in India touched 158,000 units in the 9-month period ending June 2011 with some 10 vendors* offering 27 brands between them. Samsung emerged as the best selling Tablet brand in India – the result of a canny price drop in an environment, where ‘paisa vasool’ or money’s worth outweighs the cult appeal that seems to matter in more mature markets. If the iPad is not top dog in India that may also be because Apple made a very tardy entry here – some 4 months after Samsung. A new CyberMedia Research study finds that a  7-inch screen size and an Android v 2.2 operating system are the most favoured platforms. The split between 3G and WiFi models was in the proportion 70:30. during the three quarters ended June 2011.
Olivepad launched the first media tablet in India in July 2010. The first major international brand to launch followed in October 2010 – the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The Apple iPad, the most well recognized tablet, arrived in India only in January 2011.
Leading Vendors (in terms of unit shipments) are Samsung with a 45.8% market share; Apple with 18.4% and RIM with 14.8%. Says Anirban Banerjee, Associate Vice President, Research and Advisory Services, CyberMedia Research:"Tablets provide touch based user experience with a convenient screen size for web surfing, content consumption and entertainment. Moreover, portability, ease of use and wireless connectivity 'on-the-go' make the tablet an even more attractive buy… For the Tablet to become a common man’s device, usage tariffs for high speed data services need to be brought down even further along with useful and relevant content for the Indian consumer".
RIM’s Playbook, Apple’s iPad2, Motorola’s Xoom and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7 are some of the notable MNC tablet brands available in the India market in the high end range. Tablet models in the India market in 2Q 2011 ranged from Rs. 8,000 per unit going up to Rs. 47,000 per unit. CyberMedia Research expects a majority of Tablet models to launch in the volume segment at a price band between Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 15,000.
Adds Naveen Mishra, Lead Analyst, Telecommunications Practice, CyberMedia Research: "Applications like video chat and Live TV already popular with smartphone users around the world are expected to become popular with India media tablet users as well. Further, it is expected that new data focused applications will be developed for the Tablet user community. Newspapers that have their PC- and mobile-specific websites are expected to develop tablet-specific websites and 'apps' as the tablet user base grows and achieves critical, making it attractive for advertisers. Innovations such as USB connectivity so that customers are able to use their existing dongles or an SD card slot to help users copy and store large volumes of personal digital content will help to strengthen adoption of media tablets in India".
*Top Ten Tablet vendors in India: Acer, Apple, Binatone, HCL, HTC, Motorola, Notion Ink, Olive, RIM, Samsung.

Our earlier story on Indian Tablet market ( Sep 1 2011) -- indicating swift chages in less than a month:  http://www.indiatechonline.com/tablet-and--other-pc-markets-in-india-552.php         Sep 30 2011