The year of the tablet is upon us, says Deloitte

2010: Year of the tablet?

2010 is set to be the year of the tablet, according to a report released today.

The Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice at Deloitte announced its predictions for the upcoming year, forecasting sales into the tens of million for tablet devices.

The report claimed they have an "appealing balance of form and function", but noted that other gadgets which have recently broken onto the scene may suffer from its success.

"The rise of the net tablet could constrain the growth of the nascent e-reader market," said Jolyon Barker, global lead for TMT, in a statement. "For every million net tablets sold there will be a corresponding impact on e-readers."

Virtualisation for the desktop is also set to "be taken far more seriously" this year according to the report with anticipation that one million desks will go to this technology, reaching 10 per cent of all enterprise client devices by 2015.

However, not all technologies are facing such positive futures, with a mixed bag predicted for the green sector.

Jim Sloane, lead technology partner at Deloitte, said in a statement: "2010 will also see the world's first laboratory scale carbon-negative cement plant delivering significant reductions in global CO2 emissions."

He added: "In contrast, solar power technology could struggle in 2010 due to the cost of solar equipment, tools and raw materials, overcapacity and weak economics."

Moore's law, defined by Deloitte as "the traditional ability of the global semiconductor industry to double the number of transistors in a square centimetre of silicon every 18-24 months" is set to continue in 2010, according to its predictions.

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.