Yesterday we learned that the iPhone was the second most popular smartphone in the country, but what about the iPad? The tablet market is considerably less crowded than the smartphone market (for now), and the numbers show that. According to a report from Strategy Analytics Inc., the iPad made up 95 percent of the global market in Q3 2010, with shipments up 26 percent from the previous quarter. By comparison, Android-based tablets took only two percent of the market. Overall, sales of tablet devices are expected to grow to 54.8 million units in 2011.
Since there aren't many different tablets available just yet, I kind of figured that the iPad would have a large portion of the market, but 95 percent is even higher than I expected. That number could change very soon, though, because the Samsung Galaxy Tab is launching on multiple carriers in a little over a week. The tablet market may not have many competitors in it right now, but with all of the manufacturers planning to launch a tablet some time early next year, things are going to start getting cramped in the near future.
