Malaysian tablet sales soar by 500 per cent: GfK

GfK Malaysia said around 656,000 tablets were snapped up across Malaysia in 2011.

It said the tablets market totalled around US$140 million in the final quarter of 2011, growing from US$44 million the previous year.

Jennifer Chan, general manager at GfK Malaysia, said tablets are now widely accepted across Malaysia.  

She said, “Since its launch in mid-2010, take-up rate has been mounting rapidly with sales rising on a month-by-month basis, so much that today’s sales have almost come head-to-head with laptops, a device seen as the tablet’s closest competitor.”

Chan said a key factor in the popularity of tablets is the Malaysian government’s efforts to deepen internet penetration by increasing public wi-fi hotspots and cutting tax on broadband subscriptions.

She added, “At the same time, today’s demanding consumers seeking consistently high performance, quality photo capture and speedy media experience in a convenient and portable form means there is still much more room for development for tablets in this tech hungry market.”