Tablets a mixed blessing for the industry

GfK has noted that the success of tablet devices has been a mixed blessing for the wider IT industry.
In a recent newsletter, GfK analyst Dominic Ashford highlights the fact that tablets sales at retail are now equal to those of laptops, and although they have been a significant boost to the channel in recent years, they have had adverse effects in other areas.
Sales of boxed software have fallen by 14 per cent over the last two years, which GfK partly attributes to a fall in demand for laptops and netbooks but also notes that these media devices are designed primarily to utilise app downloads.
However, there have also been benefits too. Sales of keyboards for media tablets have increasing in volume by 88 per cent year-on-year, with average selling prices that are 278 per cent higher than traditional PC keyboards.
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