According to International Data Corporation (IDC) there were 10.1 million tablets sold in Q4 of 2010. Apple iPad’s share dropped from 93% in Q3 to 73% in Q4. While Apple has a huge lead it is intertesting to see that the Samsung Galaxy Tab captured 17% of the market share with just being released in November, with 10% shared amongst the likes of Coby, Archos, Augen, eLocity, and other smaller players. This means Apple sold around 7.3 million tablets, and Samsung sold 1.7 millon.

It will be interesting to see how Q1 of 2011 plays out, since the iPad 2 is releasing just this week, which is towards the end of the quarter. In Q2/Q3 of 2011 you will have several more tablets available from the likes of HP, BlackBerry, LG, Toshiba, and Samsung. The beginning of 2011 also saw the release of the Motorola XOOM in February.

IDC does think that the price of the Motorola XOOM could hinder sales. However, I think we will see a quick price drop for the XOOM towards the end of this month. We are also expecting the WIFI only version of the XOOM to release the first week of April if rumors are to be believed. With several new big name players in the next few months, Q2 of 2011 will see the true battle of the tablet wars. My thought is that the iPad will hold onto around 50% of the market share come mid year.

 

Posted by Chris Garcia via BusinessWire