Industry Analysts Predict Tablets To Eat Into PC Industry Volumes

Two significant reports came out today from PC industry watchers which suggest that the exploding tabletform-factor, popularized by the Apple iPad and pending Google Android powered devices, will eat into traditional computer volumes.

Maynard Um with UBS Investment Research issued a note to investors this week, in which he increased his price target for AAPL stock to $350, up from $340. He said there is no evidence that the iPad is having a negative effect on Mac sales, but it is “adversely affecting the PC industry.”

“Sales of traditional notebooks appear to be feeling pressure from the iPad, causing a scramble by vendors to launch iPad-like tablets,” Um wrote. “We believe that a majority of this impact is occurring on the lower end of PC sales as the iPad is priced close enough to this range that it becomes attractive to consumers looking to make purchases within this segment.”

He continued: “We are not sold that the iPad is purely cannibalizing PC sales, as the functionality of the iPad cannot yet deliver the functionality of notebook PCs. However, consumers who purchase iPads may be more willing to delay purchases and upgrades of existing PCs.”

In the second report, Ben Reitzes an industry analyst from Barclay’s Capital, lowered his sales estimates for regular PC’s and raised his expectations for Tablets.

Reitzes tweaked his tablet estimates in the opposite direction, raising his 2010 forecast to 15.85 million units (up from 15.2 million earlier) and his 2011 forecast to 31.2 million (up from 28 million earlier). He cites three main factors for the increase: greater availability of the iPad; upcoming international launches of the device; and imminent tablet launches from other manufacturers. Though the tablet category remains relatively new, Reitzes points to “strong initial demand” as evidence that sales will rapidly increase over the next two years.