The latest figures from the International Data Corporation show unexpectedly high tablet and e-reader sales, with both beating their quarterly targets.
Worldwide media tablet shipments were up 88.9% on the previous quarter and 303.8% year-on-year, reaching 13.6 million units at the end of the second quarter. As a result, IDC has raised its tablet shipment forecast to 62.5 million units for 2011.
Apple’s iPad 2 was responsible for 68.3% of the quarter’s tablet shipments; a total of 9.3 million units. The Research in Motion BlackBerry PlayBook took a 4.9% share, while market share for Android-based media tablets fell to 26.8%.
IDC says Android’s share is expected to fall again in the next quarter before increasing at the end of the year, while the recent price cut for the HP TouchPad is likely to see webOS accounting for 4.7% of tablet shipments in the current quarter.
Tom Mainelli, research director for Mobile Connected Devices at IDC, said “Media tablet shipments grew at a solid pace in the second quarter, led by continued strong demand for Apple products. We expect shipment totals to continue to grow in the third and fourth quarter, as additional vendors introduce more price-competitive Android products into the market and Apple works to maintain its dominance in the category.”
e-book reader shipments dropped 9% on the previous quarter to 5.4 million units, although the year-on-year figure was up 167%. Amazon’s Kindle had 51.7% of the market, followed by Barnes & Noble with 21.2%. eReader shipments are expected to total 27 million units for the year, over ten million more than previously predicted.