After ceding share to 32.4 percent in Q3 2011 from 33.2
percent in the previous quarter, IDC expects Android to make significant share
gains tablet OS market in Q4 2011 growing to 40.3 percent.

That increase is due mostly to the entrance of Amazon’s
Kindle Fire, and to a lesser extent the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet, into
the market.

The share increase comes at the expense of Blackberry
which is slipping from 1.1 percent to 0.7 percent, iOS which is slipping from
61.5 percent to 59.0 percent, and webOS slipping from 5 percent to 0 percent.

According to IDC, worldwide media tablet shipments into
sales channels grew 23.9 percent on a sequential basis in Q3 2011 to 18.1
million units, representing an increase of 264.5 percent from the same quarter
last year.

Despite these slightly lower-than-expected shipments in
Q3 2011, IDC sees strong demand in Q4 2011 and has increased its worldwide
shipment forecast for 2011 to 63.3 million units, up from a previous projection
of 62.5 million units.

Despite HP’s announcement last week that it would
contribute webOS to the Open Source community, IDC does not believe the
operating system will reappear in the media tablet market in any meaningful way
going forward.

ePaper-based eReaders continued to see strong shipment
growth. In Q3 2011 the worldwide total improved to 6.5 million units, up from
5.1 million units in Q2 2011, representing quarter-over-quarter growth of 27
percent and year-over-year growth of 165.9 percent.

IDC expects growth to continue in the fourth quarter
thanks to new products introductions and price cuts from the major vendors.

“Amazon’s introduction of the $79 entry-level Kindle
and $99 touch-based Kindle led to a round of price cuts from competitors. That
drops these products well into the range of impulse and gift buys for many, and
we expect a very strong Q4 2011 as a result,” said Mainelli of IDC.

From a worldwide perspective, eReader volumes in the U.S.
are expected to remain a huge majority at 80 percent share. Europe, the second
largest market, should rise to its highest volume levels in Q4 2011 due to
holiday shopping, but is not growing at the expected rate due to lack of local
language content and the uncertain euro zone climate.

By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]