4G tablets still a hard sell says network
Three has revealed that 70 per cent of last year’s tablet sales were for Wi-Fi only devices, claiming consumers are reluctant to pay for additional tablet connectivity.
Despite a number of 7-inch and 10-inch tablets now coming in 4G compatible variants, Three has suggested that the manufacturer enforced price hikes associated with the internet-on-the-move friendly slates has put many consumers off.
“70 per cent of tablet sales are still Wi-Fi and people don’t want to pay a premium at the moment for connectivity,” Brendan Arndt, Product Portfolio Manager at Three said speaking with TrustedReviews.
He added: “If a tab 8.4 Pro is £300 for the Wi-Fi and they have to pay £380 just to get the 4G version, I’m not sure they’re willing to do that.”
Discussing the wider tablet market as a whole, Arndt has revealed that the Sony Xperia Tablet Z was the network’s highest performing none-Apple tablet of the past 12 months.
“There have been a couple of wins on the Android side, but not as many as we thought there would be,” he told us.
“If you look at the market where the predictions were for last year, it was big, big sales. It didn’t quite hit where IDC wanted it to be.”
Although Android sales have been below expectations, Arndt added: “Apple iPad’s are absolutely still selling of course.”
Despite overall Android tablet sales failing to meet expectations in 2013, the Three representative has highlighted one as a standout performer that has further pushed the envelope for Google’s OS.
“The Tablet Z did good for us up against iPad, obviously not as strong as iPad in terms of sales, but it’s the first tablet we’ve been able to sell in some volume.”
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