Tablets the Leading Gadget in Boosting Online Retail?

TMC Contributor, Lance Whitney, spent some time at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, early January 2011, reporting back the huge tablet trend on scene. Following hot on the heels of Apple’s (News - Alert) iPad, a number of companies, both large and small, were unveiling and demoing their own tablet or slate devices hoping to carve out a niche of the growing market. And a growing market it is; consumers are scooping up their tablets and then using their tablets to scoop up other retail products. Many online retailers are saying that half of mobile commerce is coming from tablet devices already, and more purchases of the same are to come throughout 2011.

There are tablets, tablets everywhere. There are tablets running Windows 7 such as Samsung’s (News - Alert) Sliding PC 7, which can transform from a tablet into a netbook, complete with keyboard. There are tablets running Android, many of which are hoping to beat the iPad at its own game by offering features not currently found in Apple’s tablet, including smaller sizes, front-facing and rear-facing cameras, USB or SD card slots, and support for Adobe Flash. No matter the OS, the apps or the size, these tablets in general are making a splash in the mobile commerce world, providing shoppers with a new retail outlet.

Forrester, a well know research firm, coined the term "t-commerce" in a report section covering tablets and online retail. "In spite of the fact that the iPad was only introduced in the spring of 2010," analysts wrote, "it immediately proved to be a formidable driver of traffic through mobile devices. Many retailers report that already half of what they consider to be mobile traffic is coming through tablet devices."

Forrester (News - Alert) remains a harsh critic though commenting that smartphones, ideal in their size compared to tablets, will continue to supplement web-based online retail. "Tablet devices, on the other hand, will grow by capturing share from traditional PC web traffic by untethering shoppers from their desktops, enabling easy browsing in a living room, during a bus commute to work, or at an airport."

In other industry news, users of phones running Google (News - Alert) Inc.'s Android operating system are getting more ways to browse and buy apps for playing games, reading the news and other tasks. The Internet search leader announced its Android (News - Alert) Market Web store Wednesday. The store lets users choose apps through a Web browser and have them installed remotely to their smart phones and tablets. Previously, the Android Market was only available on Android-running devices.

The announcement of the store, at market.android.com, came at a media event for a new version of Android. Called Honeycomb, the new software is geared toward tablet computers, which are growing more popular amid Apple's launch of the iPad last April.