A little while ago we discussed how analyst predictions about Apple’s iPad dominating the tablet market for the next four to five years seemed broadly plausible, despite the historical inaccuracies of those same analyst’s long-term forecasts. Today numbers released by research firm Nielsen indicate the iPad’s inevitable slide may have already begun.
The research, conducted during the first quarter of the year, shows that the iPad still dominates the market with an 82% share, however this is down significantly on the claim of 90% Steve Jobs made at the iPad 2 announcement almost exactly two months ago.
It will still be a long, long time before Android potentially takes the tablet crown from iOS, as it recently did in the highly competitive smartphone market – however as stores are flooded with increasingly cheap, decent quality hardware running Google’s ubiquitous operating system, an Android victory is something of an inevitability.
Currently the top Android tablet out there is the Samsung Galaxy Tab with 4% of the market. Samsung have been cagey with exact sales figures but if we extrapolate from Apple’s iPad sales (currently hovering around 20 million) we can estimate the Korean giant has sold just under one million units (975,000).
The newest entry into the market, the Motorola Xoom, and the barely-a-tablet-at-all Dell Streak are the only other Android devices to be name-checked, scoring 2% and 3% respectively, while the rest of the pack are lumped into the “Other” category with 9%.
Nielsen also surveyed how tablet uptake is affecting how we use other devices. The biggest loser here was the humble desktop PC. 32% of tablet users said they use their desktop less since purchasing a slate. Echoing what analysts have been saying, Netbooks also took a significant hit with 5% of tablet users saying they have abandoned their netbooks altogether.
