After a year or two of 100% per annum growth we are about where tablets are mature technology. We see Android/Linux has taken a big share from Apple and M$ is nowhere to be seen. Without leverage of monopoly, M$ cannot compete against the world. This demonstration of M$’s impotence should be enough to get OEMs and retailers moving GNU/Linux on x86/amd64 PCs. Canonical expects to have a great year because of that willingness to try something in the face of the sluggish legacy PC market.
“Worldwide tablet shipments outpaced predictions reaching a record total of 52.5 million units worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2012 (4Q12), according to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. The tablet market grew 75.3% year over year in 4Q12 (up from 29.9 million units in 4Q11) and increased 74.3% from the previous quarter’s total of 30.1 million units.”
see Tablet Shipments Soar to Record Levels During Strong Holiday Quarter, According to IDC.