IDC: Android tablets won’t overtake the iPad until 2016, holding their own for now
With the release of the new iPad analytics firm IDC is upping their tablet forecast for 2012. Their unit forecast has been bumped up from 87.7 million to 106.1 million but the lion’s share of those devices are still predicted to run iOS. IDC’s current model doesn’t have slates running Google’s Android overtaking Apple’s tablet until 2016 despite strong growth in 2011. At the forefront of that growth was the Kindle Fire.
During the final quarter of 2011 Amazon’s $199 media tablet made up 16.8 percent of all tablets sold. To put that in perspective, Android tablets held 44.6 percent of the market in total. Other manufacturers buoying the Android cause included Samsung and Barnes & Noble. While Samsung’s Galaxy Tab series offers a more “traditional” tablet experience, the strong showing from Amazon and B&N suggests consumers can be won with the right combination of price and functionality. It isn’t all about quad-core processors and HD displays. Doing the math (and accounting for the slight blip that is RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook), that leaves a 54.7 percent share for the iPad.
Overall tablet growth was up, with a 155 percent increase in sales quarter-over-quarter.
[via TechCrunch]