Well, its time Apple and every one else sits up and takes notice, if they haven’t done so already. Here comes Android! Upsetting most other mainstays in the phone segment and playing the part of spoilsport in the booming tablet segment as well. Google’s OS has gone on to garner a 22% percent market share, as of the end of 4th quarter 2010, as has been revealed in a recent survey conducted by the research firm Strategy Analytic. This is almost a 10 fold jump from the previous quarter when it had just 2.3 percent of the tablet market under its sway. This quite the achivement since most of Google’s offerings so far has been meant for the smart phone operating systems and not tablets.
The Apple iPad had ended the previous quarter with a commanding 95% percent share of the tablet segment Although it continued to loose ground as the year panned out, so that by the end of 2010, the iPad was left with 75%. Now try and guess who did the maximum damage? Its the Samsung Galaxy Tab that only recently notched up sales of more than 3 million units.
“Global tablet shipments grew 120 percent sequentially to reach 9.7 million units in Q4 2010. Apple maintained first position. Apple recorded an impressive 75 percent global market-share during the fourth quarter, but it has slipped from a peak of 95 percent in Q3 2010 due to rising competition from Android,” revealed the Director at Strategy Analytics, Peter King.
As a whole, close to 10 million tablet PCs (9.7 million to be exact) got shipped in the last quarter of 2010 which is a 120% jump from the quarter prior to that. The trend is expected to prevail this year as well with tablet sales likely to hit the 50 million mark.
Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics further added, “Android tablet volumes experienced 2000 percent sequential growth and its global market share soared to a record 22 percent in Q4 2010. The Samsung Galaxy Tab was the main driver of Android’s success, as the model was launched in dozens of countries and promoted heavily by Samsung. Tablet makers like Android because of its perceived low cost and an accompanying range of compelling media services such as YouTube and Google Maps.”
While the Galaxy Tab has emerged as the only serious competitor of the iPad till date, Apple can only expect things to become even more cut-throat in the coming days, as Google braces itself for the launch of the tablet oriented Android 3.0 codenamed Honeycomb. Taking advantage of this new iteration of Android are some high profile companies coming out with some delectable delights soon, such as; Motorola XOOM, the BlackBerry PlayBook or the G-Slate from LG. What makes thing even more interesting is that Apple too is readying the next generation iPad2 to take on a resurgent competition.
Honeycomb’s official release is expected on February 2nd.
Meanwhile, the United States has emerged as the biggest tablet market so far.
via businesswire
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
