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Android holds nearly 40 percent of global tablet market: report

By | January 27, 2012, 8:11am PST

Summary: Apple is still in the lead as iPad shipments are doing pretty well at 57.6 percent, but the global market share gap between iOS and Android is really starting to close.

The iPad doesn’t have one tablet in particular that it can consider direct competition — but Apple should take Android a little more seriously after a new report released this week.

Android came on strong during the fourth quarter, and it retained 39.1 percent of the global tablet market share as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics.

Apple is still in the lead as iPad shipments are doing pretty well at 57.6 percent, but that global gap appears to be closing more so these days.

Nevertheless, Strategy Analytics director Peter King explained in the report that “Apple shrugged off the much-hyped threat from entry-level Android models this quarter” as 15.4 million iPads worldwide shipped worldwide during Q4.

While the report does not cite which Android devices are doing the best, Laptop Magazine uncovered the two leading the pack, and you won’t be terribly surprised.

Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet (both released last fall, so they haven’t even been on the market a full year — barely a full quarter each) make up nearly the majority of Android tablet shipments together make up 40 percent of the Android share, according to King as told to Laptop.

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Android, Tablets, Notebooks, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

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Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

Talkback Most Recent of 13 Talkback(s)

  • And yet...
    The iPad holds 95% of all tablet usage data. Where are all of the Android Tablets?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Bruizer
    27th Jan
  • RE: Android holds nearly 40 percent of global tablet market: report
    @Bruizer
    Please remember that this is talking about market share, not usage.
    In other words, how much of the sales market a certain product has during a certain period of time, not how many have already been sold.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Will T
    27th Jan
  • The answer is that these aren't Android Tablets
    @Bruizer
    From the article:
    "Amazon???s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble???s Nook Tablet ... make up nearly the majority of Android tablet shipments"

    These are highly customized, single purpose color eReaders that do not compete with iPad in any way.

    So while Android eReaders are shipping well, they are sold at a loss (hoping to make profit on content) Android tablets are a huge no show. No one is buying Android tablets.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    toddybottom_z
    27th Jan
  • "highly customized, single purpose color eReaders"
    @toddybottom_z, perhaps you can explain that statement? My Fire has full internet capabilities, access to both the Amazon and Android app stores, Hulu, Netflix, and pretty much every other media consumption site, not to mention the robust Amazon ecosystem. How is that nothing more than a single purpose eReader?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    itpro_z
    27th Jan
  • Where are all those tablets anyway?
    It's been almost two years since the iPad was launched followed by many Android tablets and others (RIM Playbook, HP Touchpad, etc) and I think I only saw two or three of them in people's hands (not counting store displays).
    ZDNet Gravatar
    lepoete73
    27th Jan
  • There is a reason
    @lepoete73
    The only Android "tablets" that are selling don't look or behave like Android tablets. They are eReaders from Amazon and B&N. Anyone that tries to sell an Android tablet that looks like an Android tablet is failing miserably. Why? Because Android tablets that look like Android tablets are competing against the iPad and nothing can compete against the iPad. Apple is too strong, too ruthless. They are the 8,000lb gorilla in the market.

    The only successful Android "tablets" don't look or act like Android tablets and are sold at a loss with the hopes of making it up later with content.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    toddybottom_z
    27th Jan
  • Umm, He Meant the iPad Too
    @toddybottom_z
    Read his question again. He means, why doesn't he see any of the tablets, including the iPad, in people's hands? I know of a couple of people who have an iPad, but never actually saw someone with one outside of a store until last week. Oddly enough, I had actually seen someone with an Android tablet first (and I also know a couple of people who have one of those that I haven't seen).

    It seems that tablets are still used at home more than being toted around for some reason.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    CFWhitman
    27th Jan
  • RE: Android holds nearly 40 percent of global tablet market: report
    The 40 market share for android tab is a crappy share. There are $60 android tabs available in amazon. So far I never came across a single person who uses a proper android tab. The android tablet market share thing is pure propaganda.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    owlnet
    27th Jan
  • RE: Android holds nearly 40 percent of global tablet market: report
    @owlnet So...... statistics and sampling are pure propaganda, but the personal eyeballing of people via someone handled "owlnet" on the Internet is what we should all consider reliable?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    jgm@...
    27th Jan
  • Starting to close? Android has already overtaken iPad.
    If you look at daily activations and not quarterly shipments, you will notice that Android tablets are now selling more than iPad. The most popular Android tablet was released not before December, so it is unfair to count the whole quarter.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    charbax@...
    27th Jan
  • lol... link please..
    @charbax@... Google says that less than 2% of android devices use Honeycomb and above..
    ZDNet Gravatar
    theFunkDoctorSpoc
    28th Jan
  • It's the price that matters
    Actually, what this report is unintentionally showing is that there is a market for a $500 tablet... it's called the iPad.

    It's also showing there's a market for a $200 tablet... it's called an Android tablet.

    The question is: We have seen that Android has not been able to significantly capture the $500 tablet market, but if Apple were to release a $200 iPad, would it be able to capture that market?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    camcost@...
    30th Jan
  • RE: Android holds nearly 40 percent of global tablet market: report
    Really it nice to hear that android is growing rapidly.I am an android application developer.If you want to develop application and need any assistance then follow this link http://androidtrainningcenter.blogspot.in/
    ZDNet Gravatar
    tofeeqahmad
    30th Jan

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