Crystal Ball: iPad to Carry Semiconductors to $4 Billion by 2014

Never let it be said iPad isn’t pulling its weight in the Frenetic Predictions industry.

Industry observer Andrew Berg peeks into research firm In-Stat’s (News - Alert) crystal ball, reporting that it says the iPad “promises significant opportunities for the semiconductor market.” Significant to the tune of hitting $4.1 billion in four years.

Naturally it’ll pump steroids into the tablet market itself. “Piggybacking on the expected success of the Apple (News - Alert) iPad, the total available market for tablet computers will jump to about 50 million over the next four years, according to a report released today by In-Stat,” said Andrew Hickey, industry observer.

The In-Stat’s report, “The Rise Of The Internet Tablet: The Keys To Success,” thinks the Apple iPad is going to help goose the entire total available tablets to 50 million units by 2014. In fact, Berg says, the company is predicting that the iPad will “energize the emerging tablet PC segment, creating a potential semiconductor opportunity of over $4.1 billion in 2014.”

Jim McGregor, In-Stat analyst, released a statement saying that even more important is that the opportunity in tablets is complementary to other mobile devices, particularly smartphones and netbooks.

If tablets do want to do those kinds of numbers we think they’d do well to get carrier strategies in place, as well as find something that only a tablet can do other than sit on a coffee shop table and look cool. They do look cool, but frankly, what problem do they solve for you? You can look cool for less than $500, friend.

In-Stat is projecting “a potential unit total available market for tablets to reach 50 million in 2014,” Berg said adding that based on device bill of material estimates, initial pricing of mainstream tablets should be in the $400-$500 range.

Tablets and eReaders were all the rage at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, with Hewlett Packard, Dell (News - Alert), ICD and Lenovo jostling to get in the tablet market. Hey there’s even supposed to be one from Redmond, Berg said.