IDC puts iPad at 90pc of tablets, Kindle at 42pc

Apple managed to claim 87.4 percent of the tablet market before the Galaxy Tab came into play, IDC found in a rare study of tablet share. As most companies were caught off-guard, Apple claimed a near-monopoly of the tablet market last summer. Analysts further expected 17 million tablets to have shipped by the end of the year, almost all of which would still have been iPads.

Android will have cut into Apple's share in the fall through at least the 1.5 million Galaxy Tabs estimated sold and could make deeper inroads in 2011 through optimized tablets such as the Motorola Xoom. RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook could have an effect as well, according to IDC. The researchers saw an explosion to 44 million tablets this year but, with 40 percent of these likely to be sold in the US, still favored Apple for the lead.

Along with its look at tablets, IDC provided an equally uncommon look into e-reader market share based on estimates. It believed that Amazon shipped 1.14 million Kindles in the summer, which while a fraction of the iPad was enough to give it 41.5 percent of the pure e-reader field. Despite its limited exposure in the US,
Sony and China's Hanvon were nearly tied with each other at 8.4 and 8.2 percent, respectively.

E-reader share was likely to have changed radically in the fall. During the holidays, Amazon sold millions in just 73 days, moving more in 2.5 months than it did through all of 2009. The unofficial numbers also didn't factor in Barnes & Noble's Nook Color success, which while unquantified could have helped the bookstore increase its standing.

By Electronista Staff

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Amazon, sony, digital imaging, BlackBerry, Motorola, Samsung, Kindle, IDC, Apple, Pandigital, Barnes & Noble, Nook, iPad, Hanvon, Galaxy Tab, PlayBook, Xoom