iPad Set for 'Free Run' Through Holiday Tablet Shopping Season

gartner sep11 tablet projections
Gartner's projections of worldwide tablet sales to end users (thousands of units)

Research firm Gartner today released updated sales estimates for the tablet market, noting that a lack of momentum from competing products will give Apple's iPad "free run" through the lucrative holiday shopping period. Looking out over the longer term, Gartner sees Apple maintaining a majority share of the tablet market through 2014 even as Microsoft's Windows 8 and Research in Motion's QNX platforms are expected to gain some traction.

“We expect Apple to maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014,” Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. “This is because Apple delivers a superior and unified user experience across its hardware, software and services. Unless competitors can respond with a similar approach, challenges to Apple’s position will be minimal. Apple had the foresight to create this market and in doing that planned for it as far as component supplies such as memory and screen. This allowed Apple to bring the iPad out at a very competitive price and no compromise in experience among the different models that offer storage and connectivity options.”

Gartner has pared back its estimates for Android tablet sales in 2011 by 28% over last quarter's projections, identifying extremely weak adoption due to high prices, user interface issues, and limited app offerings. Only some success in low-cost Asian markets and strong expectations for Amazon's forthcoming tablet kept Gartner from slashing projected Android device sales even further.

Android is expected to see stronger growth heading into next year as Google pushes out its next-generation "Ice Cream Sandwich" release of Android and works to address fragmentation throughout the Android ecosystem. Gartner's sales projections do not, however, see Android tablets catching up to the iPad by the end of the forecast period of 2015.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tag: Gartner
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Caution)
Related Forum: iPad

Popular Stories

Apple iPhone 16e Feature

Apple Announces iPhone 16e With A18 Chip and Apple Intelligence, Pricing Starts at $599

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued. The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
iphone 17 pro asherdipps

iPhone 17 Pro Models Rumored to Feature Aluminum Frame Instead of Titanium Frame

Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models. In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

Here Are the New Apple Products We're Still Expecting This Spring

Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring. There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category. M4...
Generic iOS 18

Here's When Apple Will Release iOS 18.4

Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch. All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
apple launch feb 2025

Tim Cook Teases an 'Apple Launch' Next Wednesday

Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag. The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle. Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
apple c1

Apple Unveils 'C1' as First Custom Cellular Modem

Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:08 am PST by
Apple today announced its first custom cellular modem with the name "C1," debuting in the all-new iPhone 16e. The new modem contributes to the iPhone 16e's power efficiency, giving it the longest battery life of any iPhone with a 6.1-inch display, such as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16. Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most...
Apple Northbrook

Apple Store Permanently Closing at Struggling Mall in Chicago Area

Tuesday February 18, 2025 8:46 pm PST by
Apple is permanently closing its retail store at the Northbrook Court shopping mall in the Chicago area. The company confirmed the upcoming closure today in a statement, but it has yet to provide a closing date for the location. Apple Northbrook opened in 2005, and the store moved to a larger space in the mall in 2017. Apple confirmed that affected employees will continue to work for the...

Top Rated Comments

Mac Fly (film) Avatar
175 months ago
Only a fool would attempt to predict 2015 tablet sales.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LagunaSol Avatar
175 months ago
Pfft, wait until the HP Slate gets here. It will completely destroy the iPad, per the Horde.



;)
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NebulaClash Avatar
175 months ago
Why? The iPad 2 was released months ago and the iPad 3 won't be out for several more months. The iPhone being released in July would have had those statements just as true as it will by being released in October.

The iPhone and iPad markets are different. One should not affect the other.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
paul4339 Avatar
175 months ago


... Shipments of iPads is a good estimation of iPad sales. Shipments of Android tablets is a lousy estimation of Android tablet sales. Yet the press keeps using shipments as a metric of market share, which is laughably wrong...
I agree. When Apple ships 10M units, they sell about 10M units.
Other manufacturers make & ship 1M units, and end up selling say, 20k units.

Then, what happens is the the remaining 980k units eventually get sold on liquidation.

So the when you read reports of manufactures selling 1M tablets, often 50%+ of them are at a heavy discount or loss.

.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
toddybody Avatar
175 months ago
No way, I'm actually trading in my iPad 2 for a Galaxy Tab. Its an incredible tablet and is going to give Apple a run for its...ok, I can't say this any more with a straight face. :D

Sorry, nothing comes close to the iPad. Competition is going to have to drop prices by a good bit to lure tablet shoppers away from Apple.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
puzne2000 Avatar
175 months ago
oh the audacity

they just slashed their android tablet forcasts for this year by %30, and yet they feel comfortable projecting windows tablet sales in 2015 to be 34,435, no more, no less. and this is before windows tablets were even introduced to the market, actually before even microsoft has a proper idea of their eventual features, price, performace, etc (it's not clear even if and how those tablets will run office apps, which is basically the sole reason to get a microsoft tabthing)..

what a bunch of pretentious idiots.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)