According to new research and market estimates from Gartner, the global tablet market is going to be dominated by one product through 2014. And I think we all know which tablet Gartner is alluding to.
Although Apple’s iPad is projected to account for 73.4% of worldwide media tablet sales in 2011, down from 83% share in 2010, no immediate threat is presented to the iPad’s overall dominance.
With the exception of the Android operating system, Gartner does not expect any other platforms to have more than 5% share of the tablet market in 2011.
Meanwhile, worldwide media tablet sales to end users are on pace to total 63.6 million units, which is a 261.4 percent increase from 2010 sales of 17.6 million units, according to Gartner, Inc. Media tablet sales will continue to experience strong growth through 2015 when sales are forecast to reach 326.3 million units.
“We expect Apple to maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. “This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal. Apple had the foresight to create this market and in doing that planned for it as far as component supplies such as memory and screen. This allowed Apple to bring the iPad out at a very competitive price and no compromise in experience among the different models that offer storage and connectivity options.”
To learn more about Gartner’s report, click here.
