Apple's iPad may take a few lumps, but it will remain the undisputed king of tablets at least through 2014.
That's according to the latest research and projections from Gartner. Apple’s iPad in on track to make up 73.4% of worldwide media tablet sales in 2011. That's down 10% from the iPad's 83% share in 2010. But beyond Apple iOS and the Android operating system, Gartner says, there's no indication that any other tablet or platform will secure more than a 5% market share before the end of this year.
The tablet market itself is on a roll, Gartner says, projecting that 2011 worldwide media tablet sales to end users will total 63.6 million units (a 261.4% increase from 2010 sales). Tablet sales will continue to see comparable growth through 2015, when Gartner believes sales will top 326.3 million units.
“We expect Apple to maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014,” says Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. “This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal. Apple had the foresight to create this market and in doing that planned for it as far as component supplies such as memory and screen. This allowed Apple to bring the iPad out at a very competitive price and no compromise in experience among the different models that offer storage and connectivity options.”
Android tablets are on pace to ship only 11 million units in 2011, giving it a 17.3% share of media tablet sales.
Source: Gartner
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