Android holds over 30% of tablet market as of Q2 2011, claims new report

Apple’s iPad may not be as ubiquitous in the tablet market as previously thought, at least according to a new report by analytical company Strategy Analytics.

According to sys-con.com, recent research from Strategy Analytics claims iPad is in first position with 61.3 percent of the market as of Q2 2011, down from 94.3 percent a year earlier. The huge drop is, of course, attributed to the rise of Google’s Android platform that has reportedly grown from just 2.9 percent in Q2 2010 to an amazing 30.1 percent of the tablet market in Q2 2011. Overall, total global tablet shipments reached 15.1 million units in Q2 2011, up 331 percent from Q2 2010.

It should be noted, however, that the marketshare data is based off of units shipped to stores, not sold to customers. Thus, according to the data, Android tablet production has skyrocketed, but actual sales numbers may look quite dissimilar from what the research presents.

“Multiple Android models distributed across multiple countries by multiple brands such as Samsung, Acer, Asus, Motorola and others are driving volumes,” said Strategy Analytics Director Neil Mawston. “However, no Android vendor yet offers a blockbuster model to rival the iPad, and demand for many Android vendors’ products remains patchy.” In particular, Mawston may be referring to the so far modest sales of the Motorola Xoom.

The research also shows Microsoft beating out RIM in the tablet market, at 4.6 percent and 3.3 percent marketshare, respectively. It appears that the recently released PlayBook was not enough to outship Windows-based tablets, such as those from Fujitsu and Gigabyte.

With Apple supposedly losing over one-third of the tablet market share in less than a year, it is still unclear if people are actually buying the products being offered by its competitors. A study last month showed the iPad accounting for 89% of all tablet web traffic in the United States. There is no doubt, however, that the Android platform is at least eating away part of the pie from the lucrative Apple-dominated market.

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