When Canalys speculated HP's TouchPad might already be the #2 tablet on the market - thanks to its price crash - it wasn't kidding.

BlackBerry's PlayBook, billed by many as a serious challenger to iPad pre-launch, appears to have stalled post launch, according to analyst's expectations.

A sweep of opinion carried out by Bloomberg points to a first quarter shipment tally of 490,000.

Placed side by side with iPad's last quarterly shipment total of 9.25 million, and that suggests Apple's tablet is outshipping RIM's alternative by 19 to 1.

The BlackBerry burn

While it's not a disaster for the company – Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley told the site RIM "hasn't given up on PlayBook", despite its "poor start" - it doesn't bode well for the firm's line up of phones.

RIM has consistently billed PlayBook as the standard bearer for all that follows, with future BlackBerry phones expected to adopt the tablet's QNX-based OS.

 

Still, if PlayBook isn't striking a chord with consumers, the worry is, neither will the phones.

"RIM overplayed the PlayBook in terms of its sales and prospects," added Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf.

"What this really shows is that the company's prospects will depend on the next generation of BlackBerrys."

Collectively, the analysts surveyed have reduced their year one shipment projections for PlayBook to 2.2 million, while 2011 numbers will touch 1.5 million.

All aboard iPad

The news comes just as IDC reports shipments for iPad 2 hit 9.3 million in Q2 2011, taking just shy of a 70 percent share of the worldwide market – a rise on the near 66 percent share Apple boasted in the previous quarter.

HP's aforementioned TouchPad also enjoyed a strong quarter according to IDC figures, with its price crash leading to close to a million sales.

However, rather than gain ground on iPad, the launch of non-Android tablets – however short their life – has had a major impact on Google's OS, knocking its share down to 26.8 percent from 34 percent the previous quarter.

"Apple's iOS share will continue to lead by more than 40 percentage points over Google's Android for the remainder of the year, but we expect Apple's share to fall closer to 50 percent by the end of the forecast period as manufacturers bring new tablets to market," said analyst Jennifer Song of the results.

Reading the market

In total, worldwide media tablet shipments rose by 88.9 percent sequentially and 303.8 percent year on year during the quarter, hitting a total of 13.6 million units.

"Media tablet shipments grew at a solid pace in the second quarter, led by continued strong demand for Apple products," added research director Tom Mainelli.

"We expect shipment totals to continue to grow in the third and fourth quarter, as additional vendors introduce more price-competitive Android products into the market and Apple works to maintain its dominance in the category."

In reply, e-readers saw their share dip 9 percent sequentially, though year on year figures were up 167 percent to 54. million units, led by Amazon with a 51.7 percent share.

Barnes & Noble's Nook holds second spot, with a 21.2 percent share of the market.

[source: Bloomberg/IDC]