It says media tablets will experience a five-year compound annual growth rate of 54 per cent in the region, to multiply their numbers more than ten times, from 2 million units shipped in 2010 to 21 million units.

IDC expects more consumers to adopt media tablets for gaming, Web-browsing and social networking needs on the go. While mature markets like Korea, Australia and Taiwan are showing high interest in mobile devices like media tablets, China continues to demonstrate high purchasing power for new-technology products.

By contrast, emerging countries in the region, like Indonesia and Malaysia, have more conservative attitudes toward media tablets and still prefer mini-notebooks, with better keyboard input and a familiar user experience.

IDC said Apple became more active in Asia for the iPad 2 launch, similar to its approach with the iPhone 3G, and its aggressive pricing and strong branding left little room for other players. Samsung focused on its 7-inch tablet, relying on its domestic brand strength to boost its numbers, and a host of local Chinese brands joined the market to form a long tail. With product-development speed being their key strength, they may survive in some niche markets, the firm said.

"Over the next five years, Apple will set the pace in the media-tablet category. Competitors to iPad must innovate ways to differentiate their products though, lest consumer interest wanes in favour of the next tech gadget. Some of this demand may be driven by the education sector, such as the Thai government's recently announced plan to distribute 800,000 Android tablets to primary-school students. While this latest announcement has not been yet factored into IDC's forecast, there are certainly opportunities out there to keep driving media-tablet growth," said IDC Asia Pacific's research manager for client devices research Melissa Chau.

Meanwhile, IDC expects sales of eReader devices to fall at a compound annual rate of 18 per cent, since they are limited to a single function, which media tablets cover anyway. Moreover, media tablets offer a better reading experience, with colour display for magazine content.

"Lack of localised content is an issue for eReaders in the Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan, region," said IDC Asia Pacific's senior market analyst for client devices research Dickie Chang. "In China, for example, some consumers are still relying on pirated Internet downloads. Online bookstores haven't been earning device vendors wide margins on content, and they face aggressive iPad pricing, squeezing them further."

The eReader market is largely driven by Hanvon and Snda in China, as they entered the market early. In China, the eReader is a good gift choice, but more consumers are starting to consider media tablets. Although the Amazon Kindle only sells in some Asia-Pacific countries, it is still popular in English-speaking markets, such as Australia and New Zealand.

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker covers 13 markets in the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.