The worldwide tablet market is expected to see a massive deceleration in 2014 with year-over-year growth slowing to 7.2 per cent, down from 52.5 per cent in 2013, according to a new forecast from IDC. At the core of this slowdown is the expectation that 2014 will represent the first full year of decline in Apple iPad shipments. Both the iPad and the overall market slowdown do not come as a surprise as device lifecycles for tablets have continued to lengthen, increasingly resembling those of PCs more than smartphones, IDC commented. The research company found that many tablet owners are holding onto their devices for more than three years and in some instances more than four years. Two drivers for this are legacy software support for older products, especially within iOS, and the increased use of smartphones for a variety of computing tasks. Report