Apple shipped 15.4 million units in Q4, up from 11.1
million units in Q3 2011, representing 54.7 percent market share. However,
Apple market decreased from 61.5 percent in Q3 2011.
Amazon shipped 4.7 million Kindle Fires into the market.
Amazon’s shipment put the company in second place with 16.8 percent of the
worldwide market.
Third-place Samsung grew its share from 5.5 percent in Q3
to 5.8 percent in Q4 2011. Despite shipping more units, including its new Nook
Tablet, Barnes & Noble saw its market share slip to 3.5 percent (down from
4.5 percent). Pandigital rounded out the top five, grabbing 2.5 percent of the
market, down from 2.9 percent the previous quarter.
“Amazon’s widely-reported entry into the media
tablet market with a $199, 7-inch product seemed to raise consumers’ awareness
of the category worldwide despite the fact that the Fire shipped almost
exclusively in the U.S. in the fourth quarter,” said Tom Mainelli,
research director, Mobile Connected Devices, IDC.
Products across the pricing spectrum sold well, including
everything from Apple’s premium-priced iPads (which start at $499) to
Pandigital’s line of Android-based, entry-level tablets (which start at $120).
The success of market leader Apple was particularly noteworthy, as the
company’s shipment total for the quarter represents an increase of 110.5
percent from Q4 2010.
