Android Tablets Global Market Share Growing

Strategy Analytics, a market analysis company, recently released its report on the global market for tablets for the fourth quarter of 2011. The company’s analysis showed that even though the Apple iPad is still the market leader with a very formidable 58 percent share of the market, Android tablets are fast gaining ground with Android powered tablets now getting 39 percent of the market. Windows powered tablets have also figured in the results, accounting for 1 percent of the global market share.

The 39 percent showing of Android tablets is a marked improvement from last year, when it only owned 29 percent of the global market for tablets. One of the reasons cited for the increased performance of Android in the market is the growing number of tablet manufacturers who are using Android to power their devices. One example would be Amazon, which released their high selling Kindle Fire tablet last year. That tablet runs on a modified Android OS. According to Strategy Analytics, about 10.5 million Android tablets were shipped during the last quarter of 2011. For the same quarter a year ago (2010), only 3.1 million Android tablets were shipped.

Strategy Analytics did explain that it used two different sales figures for both the Apple iPad and Android tablets in its report. For the Apple iPad, the company used actual sales to consumers. But for the Android tablets, the company used sell-in figures, this is when the manufacturers sell their products to the retailers. Since most manufacturers are not very willing to share actual sales figures, it is hard to get the true sales of Android tablets, hence the different figures used.

Originally posted on January 27, 2012 @ 7:27 pm