IT industry news: Android gains share of tablet market

18:00 26th January 2012

Research from Strategy Analytics (SA) has shown that Android's share of the tablet computer market rose significantly during the final quarter of 2011, although Apple remains out in front.

The Google operating system accounted for 39 per cent of the market in the three-month period, up from 29 per cent a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Apple's share fell from 68 per cent at the end of 2010 to 58 per cent 12 months later.

"Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes," said SA analyst Neil Mawston.

Overall, shipments of tablet devices reached a new high of 26.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 10.7 million a year ago. Tablet shipments hit 66.9 million for the year as a whole.

Last month, Google announced that more than ten billion apps had been downloaded by users of the Android Market, with the rate of downloads reaching one billion a month.

Posted by Hannah James

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