General Manager of Distributive Trade at MTN Ghana, Shaibu Haruna has said the use of tablets like iPads and Samsung Galaxy on mobile networks in Ghana is on a steep rise, even though the sale of such tablets in Ghana is slow. Research by US-based Frost and Sullivan (F&S) indicates that the global tablets sales had the highest growth rates in the IT hardware market in 2010, with iPad alone commanding 90 per cent market share selling 18.3 million tablets and raking in some $9.5 billion. Samsung Galaxy had a relatively slow up take with some two million sold in 2010. But Mr. Haruna tells Adom News even though the two mobile tablets are doing great on the global market, the uptake has been relatively slow in Ghana in terms of sales, but the use is on the rise. “A lot more of these tablets are being used on the networks and this may be attributable to the nature of technology transfer in Ghana, where most people buy when they travel out of Ghana or have relations who buy these devices and send them to Ghana.” Mr. Haruna noted that with the recent launch of the iPad 2, Ghana should expect the infiltration of slightly used iPad 1 into the market and this should further increase the number of tablets in the market. “We also anticipate that a lot more of the Chinese manufactures are bound to enter this multi-billion dollar market over the next couple of months in 2011,” he said. No telecom network sells iPads in Ghana yet, but MTN and Vodafone recently launched Samsung Galaxy on their networks. Mr. Haruna said there are big prospects for Samsung Galaxy this year because of the additional features of voice, camera and android technology, which are not in the iPad tablets. Meanwhile F&S forecasts that tablets would be one of the major IT market leaders in terms of sales this year. They noted that with a strong initial appeal to consumers, nowadays the enterprise sector has shown increasing interest in the adoption of tablets. “Nevertheless, from the total units sold worldwide in 2010, only 5% was bought by businesses,” the report said, adding “the expectation, however, is that this percentage approaches 30% in 2015.” It said the pioneer verticals in the use of the tablets are pharmaceutical, construction and consumer goods, which already presents business success stories. Story by Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Adom News/Ghana