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Tablet shipments down 28% according to IDC

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Q1 of 2011 tablet sales down to 7.2 Million units worldwide

There’s no denying that tablets are all the craze nowadays, but the actual extent of the device’s success may have been overstated. According to a recent market study, tablet shipments have actually gone down in the 1st quarter of 2011, although there may be a silver lining on the horizon.

As discovered by research from the International Data Corporation (IDC), tablet shipments have dropped to 7.2 Million units in Q1 compared to 10.1 million units in the final quarter of 2010, a 28% decrease. In addition, the separately counted e-reader market also experienced a drop in sales to a total of 3.3 million units sold in the post-holiday season.

However, the latest analysis isn’t all doom and gloom, as IDC has also revised their 2011 shipment forecast for tablets from the previous 50.4 Million units to a now projected 53.5 Million units. Long-term growth of tablet sales is also being predicted by the company, as stated by Jennifer Song, an IDC research analyst in the following quote:

“Although media tablet sales were not as high as expected in 1Q11 due to slower consumer demand, overall economic conditions, and supply-chain constraints, we believe with the entrance of competitive new devices in second half of 2011, the market will sell close to 53 million units for the year and continue to grow long-term”.

The IDC report also includes various observations about the tablet and e-reader market, including continued dominance of Apple’s iPad 2 over the media tablet market and the discovery that Barnes & Noble’s Color Nook has taken the lead in the e-reader market for the first time.

For access to the full report and further observations, check out IDC’s press release below. 

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Omar Qudsi, 2011-07-13 (Update: 2012-05-26)