2011 Tablet Sales Double or Triple, Depending on Region

That sales of tablets were growing is something that was confirmed months ago, but by just how much was unclear, until IDC decided to study deeper and found that the shipment rise will be a factor of 2 or 3.

Even just the last couple of weeks have been more than rich in news regarding tablets, like the Lenovo IdeaPad k1 and the upcoming Galaxy Tab 8.9.

Seeing how fast the popularity of these electronics grew, IDC researched whatever data could be gathered and found that 2011 will be a year of rapid advancement.

While Australia and New Zealand will see a threefold progress in terms of Android media slate shipments, though it won't be enough to outdo iOS.

This is because the Blackberry OS and the webOS will only arrive in the second half of the year and, thus, won't have time to secure more than a small percentage of the market share.

"Early adopters who would like to purchase a media tablet device as soon as possible may have already gone down the path of purchasing Apple iPad 2 at the end of March. However, the launch of the Android 3.0 Honeycomb media tablets started from May onwards will be the first sign of disruption in the media tablet market," said Yee-Kuan Lau, Market Analyst for IDC Australia.

Australia accounted for 85% of total shipments during the first quarter. Along with the evolution in New Zealand, this will let the overall segment of the industry double over what was achieved in 2010.

"While the launch of Android 3.0 Honeycomb media tablets may not be significant enough to cause a shift in the competitors' landscape now, this will spur growth in Android tablets within 2011," said Lau.

"The decrease in shipments is a result of weak consumer demand after a busy Christmas period, proceeded by the anticipation of Apple's iPad 2 along with a series of Android 3.0 Honeycomb device. Samsung, being the second largest vendor in the first quarter, was further affected by excessive channel inventory of Galaxy Tab from the previous quarter."