One tablet sold for every four laptops

The astonishing rise of a form factor that's basically less than two years old.
The latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report says there were 72.7 tablets shipped in 2011, against 285.4m units for mobile PCs.
This represents a shipment growth rate for tablets in 2011 of 256 per cent thanks to significantly competitive new devices in Q4’11, strong demand for iPads, and additional distribution channels.
Yet there was still growth in the mobile PC space too - just not as fast. Notebooks were expected to reach 187.5 million units, up 12 per cent year on year, while mini-note PC shipments were pegged at 25.2 million units.
But the gap is closing.
By 2017, notebooks are forecast to reach 432 million units, and tablet shipments are projected to reach 383.3 million units. Ultrabooks, the very slim laptops evangelised by Intel, could be the form factor to watch.

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