TABLETS SALES UP; IPAD STILL RULES

Apple announced that it shipped a whopping 15.4 million iPads during the last quarter of 2011. In all, about 26.8 million tablets were shipped during this quarter. If you do the math, it is not difficult to see that Apple still claims about 57.6 percent of the tablet market.


The company had 68.2 percent of the market share during the same quarter in 2010. That means, Apple’s market share is shrinking, still it has enough reasons to celebrate considering the fact that Apple sells only two iPad models. Meanwhile, there are dozens of companies that sell Android tablets, but they have only managed to capture around 39.1 percent of the market share.

Among Android tablets, the most popular was perhaps the Amazon Kindle Fire. This $200 tablet launched during the last quarter of 2011. It doesn’t have top-of-the-line hardware, but has been selling really well due to its low price tag.

Windows tablets and other devices such as the BlackBerry PlayBook and HP TouchPad made up less than 4 percent of the market share. Windows 8, which is compatible with ARM-processors, will launch this year. Then we should see a rise in the number of Windows tablets hitting the market.