The three producers– Allview, Evolio and E-Boda–hold almost half of the Romanian market.
“2014 will certainly see the upward trend maintain. This will be the first year that the growth rate will shrink to a two-digit level, and this is the first signal that the market is maturing,” said Alin Niscov, sales manager or Brasov-based company Visual Fan, which sells Allview-branded smartphones and tablets.
“I expect a market of 750-800,000 units approximately worth EUR100 million,” Niscov told ZF.
In 2013, Visual Fun delivered 110,000 tablets worth EUR10 million on the domestic market, thus the Allview brand held a 20% market share.
Liviu Nistoran, general manager and owner of Televoice group that provides Evolio-branded electronics, is more upbeat both about the number of tablets sold in 2013 and their value, and about the market evolution in 2014.
“We estimate the domestic tablet market slightly topped 600,000 sold units in 2013 and its value revolved around EUR100 million. We expect the tablet market to expand in 2014, reaching around one million units and EUR150 million in value,” Nistoran stated.
In 2013, Evolio’s share reached 15% of the Romanian tablet market, with the company delivering 90,000 tablets, worth over EUR6 million.
Alexandru Dragoiu, chief executive officer of E-Boda Distribution, the company selling E-Boda-branded electronics, also bets on a growth larger than 50%.
“According to current information, we estimate the number of tablets sold in 2013 in Romania revolved around 520,000-550,000 units. At the level of the entire domestic PC tablet market, we expect growth by at least 50% (around 750,000-800,000 units),” he said.
Over 70,000 E-Boda tablets were sold last year, with the total value of sales standing around EUR6.3 million. Thus, E-Boda in 2013 held around 10%-12% of the market.
The representatives of the three producers estimate the average price of tablets will continue to fall in 2014, but don’t expect a major change.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)