Tablets expected to account for over 50% of embedded device sales by 2014.

According to a UK study by Informa Telecoms & Media, sales of smartbooks are expected to boom from 3.65 million in 2010 to nearly 50 million in 2014.

The growth is expected to be driven by a shift away from e-readers, such as Whitcoulls’ Kobo, towards tablet devices such as the iPad, Dell Streak and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

“There has been a resurgence of smartbooks particularly in the tablet form, fuelled by the launch of the iPad, and we are seeing the same kind of proliferation and interest in tablets now, that we saw two years ago for e-readers,” explained David McQueen, analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.

E-readers are increasingly coming under attack from all sides, says McQueen.

“E-book content is now available on most multifunctional devices such as mobile phones, tablet computers, netbooks and other portable consumer electronic devices. On the device side, while the iPad may not be as ideally suited to reading as a dedicated e-reader, many users are finding that it works well enough as a book reader, in addition to its many other functions,” he added.

Would you prefer a dedicated e-reader or are you happy with one tablet device that can do both?