Report: Tablet shipments in Asia-Pacific to grow tenfold by 2015

By 2015, expect up to 21 million units of tablet computers to ship in countries like Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.

That’s if predictions by US-based market research company International Data Corp are correct.

The amount is about ten times more than the two million tablet computers shipped in 2010.

“Over the next five years, Apple Inc. will set the pace for the tablet category. Competitors to iPad must find innovate ways to differentiate their products, lest consumer interest wanes in favor of the next tech gadget,” says Melissa Chau, research manager for client devices research, IDC.

The report also mentioned that while developed countries like Australia, Korea, and Taiwan are showing high interests in tablets, emerging economies like Malaysia and Indonesia still prefer mini-notebooks over tablets.