Just 1.2 Million Non-iPad Tablets Were Sold in 2011
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For the better part of 2011, non-iPad tablets experienced an overwhelming lack of success. HP’s TouchPad was released and then discontinued a month later, RIM’s Blackberry PlayBook has been deeply discounted, and Samsung has faced an onslaught of lawsuits from Apple.
In all, only 1.2 million non-iPad tablets were sold in the United States, according to a report from market research firm NPD group. Retailers earned approximately $425 million from non-iPad tablet sales.
Apple, on the other hand, sold 11.2 million iPads in its last quarter alone, and the company reported sales of 25 million iPads during the first three quarters of 2011. While the numbers aren’t separated into sales by country, Apple sold at least 10 million of those iPads in the United States, giving it a 90% sales share.
HP was the top non-Apple tablet vendor, selling 17 percent of that 1.2 million, or 200,000 units. Samsung came in second with 16 percent, Asus was third with 10 percent, Motorola was fourth with 9 percent, and Acer was fifth, also with 9 percent. Poor RIM didn’t even make it into the top five.
HP snagged the number one spot by selling its inventory at $99 fire sale prices, skewing results that likely would have been in favor of Samsung. With accessories, the non-Apple tablet market reached $700 million. Two thirds of those accessories were cases and screen protectors for the devices.
“Consumers are investing in expensive portable devices that they want to protect, so it’s not surprising that cases and screen protectors are driving in a significant amount of revenue,” Said NPD analyst Stephen Baker. “This is a great opportunity for the accessory manufacturers already in the market to ramp up products and designs and an opportunity for newcomers to get into a fast-growing segment.”
Non-Apple tablet sales may have been lagging during the first part of 2011, but with the holiday season and the release of Amazon’s Android-based Kindle Fire, those numbers are sure to increase. Are you buying an iPad or a Kindle Fire this season? How did you decide what to purchase? Let us know in the comments.
[via PCWorld]
