As further indication of the rise in importance and profile of the tablet segment in consumer electronics, research firm IDC has debuted its bespoke shipment tracker for this burgeoning form factor.
According to the analysts figures, the worldwide media tablet market grew 45.1 percent in 3Q10, with 4.8 million units shifted globally compared to 3.3 million in the previous quarter.
Not unsurprisingly, Apples iPad grabbed the lions share of the tablet sales, as IDC estimates that the Mac makers touchscreen line accounted for 90 percent of the shipments.
Defining words
The research house defines media tablets as devices with colour displays between five and 14 inches, running lightweight operating systems - such as iOS and Android and based on either x86 or ARM processors.
Samsungs 1 million-selling Galaxy Tab is noticeably absent from IDCs statistics, its introduction coming too late for inclusion in the third quarter analysis.
With the Korean manufacturer potentially priming an update to its well received 7-inch product at Mobile World Congress, plus RIMs PlayBook and Motorolas Xoom in the pipeline, the race for tablet supremacy is only just beginning.
Accelerated growth
"The media tablet market's rapid evolution will continue to accelerate in 4Q10 and beyond with new product and service introductions, channel expansion, price competition, and experimentation with new use cases among consumers and enterprises," said Susan Kevorkian, IDCs research director, Mobile Connected Devices.
Going forward, the analyst firm expects 17 million tablets (including Apples own reported 14.8 million iPads) to be shipped in the whole of 2010, and forecasts sales of 44.6 million and 70.8 million in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
[source: IDC]
Data & Research
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