Boston – Global tablet shipments soared 329 percent in the second
quarter, to 15.1 million units from 2.5 million, with Apple losing share but
retaining a commanding No. 1 position, Strategy Analytics found.
Apple’s share slipped from 94 percent in the year-ago quarter, when it
was largely alone in the market, to 61 percent in the second quarter of this
year as competing tablet platforms arose, said the research and consulting company.
(See chart.) Apple shipped 9.1 million
tablets in the quarter.
The Android platform’s share of second-quarter tablet shipments came to
30 percent during the quarter. Strategy Analytics pegged the share of tablets
with Microsoft’s OS at 5 percent in the quarter for a third-place ranking even though
the OS is not “fully
optimized for finger-driven tablets.” Fourth
place went to RIM’s QNX OS share at 3 percent. RIM’s first-generation
PlayBook model “experienced a lackluster launch due to product
design issues surrounding native email support,” the
company said.
Multiple
Android models distributed across multiple countries by multiple brands are
driving Android volumes, said Strategy Analytics director Neil Mawston, but for now, “no
Android vendor yet offers a blockbuster model to rival the iPad, and demand for
many Android vendors’ products remains patchy.” If Amazon
decides to launch its first Android tablet later this year, Amazon’s tablet “will
bring fresh excitement and buzz to the Android community, but Amazon will need
to deliver a truly standout offering if it really wants to make headway against
the popular iPad.”
