Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes has told his clients to expect iPad sales of 33.7 million in 2011, and total tablet sales of 47 million, according to Barron’s Online.
Reitzes research note concludes that while there are opportunities for Research in Motion with BlackBerry, and Google with Android, Apple is ‘running far ahead of its tablet competition and its their game to lose.’ And that while Apple doesn’t have an enterprise salesforce it is ‘listening to enterprise customers.’
Barclays’ advice, based on research from Forrester, is that while tablets will exist alongside smartphones and laptops, they are delaying the replacement of the latter by consumers.
Investors concerned about Apple’s medium term prospects will have been heartened by Barclays target price for Apple stock of $450, a 26% increase on its closing price last week.
Competition for the iPad may yet come from Samsung, which introduced its Galaxy Tab II at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last night. The Tab II has a 10.1in, 1280 x 800 pixel display, a 1GHz processor, and runs Android 3.0. It can record 1080p high definition video from its eight-megapixel rear camera.
Samsung also announced its latest Android smartphone, the Galaxy S II. It has a dual-core 1GHz processor, 4.3in Super AMOLED Plus screen, supports mobile TV viewing, and comes with either 16GB or 32Gb of storage.
Also at Mobile World Congress, Sony Ericsson officially unveiled the much-talked about Xperia Play smartphone. Xperia Play is designed to play mobile versions of PlayStation games. It as a 4in capacitive multi-touch display with a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels, 1GHz processor, and runs Android 2.3.
Sony promised to launch 50 new games titles from 20 publishers and said that the entire library of classic PlayStation games would eventually be released for the Xperia Play.
