Spending on tablet devices and associated service plans by Western Europe’s 12 million+ SMEs will exceed US$10 BN by 2016. Spending on tablet devices during that period is set to grow at 30% from 2011. Shipments of tablet devices to SMEs will surpass those of other portable PCs during 2016, AMI-Partners soon to be released study 2012 Western Europe SME Tablet Market Opportunity Overview reveals. 

 

“Mobile application usage in its early phases has quite naturally focused on allowing employees to communicate and collaborate while outside the office. What our research is now showing is a marked shift in interest to deploying more sophisticated business and process management applications”

 

Tablet device penetration, running at 12% at the beginning of the year, will grow to 62% by 2016. The manufacturing and professional services sectors are currently leading the charge. Apple dominates the SME tablet using market in Western Europe with around half of these firms using some version of i-Pad.

 

“In the early stages Western Europe SMEs have been purchasing tablets predominantly for senior executives,” comments Hugh Gibbs, VP Research and Consulting for AMI in EMEA. “We are now seeing usage extended to a wider variety of internal job functions as these SMEs look to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their on-the-road workforces.”