Apple's iPad still dominates the market segment by far though

Oct 20, 2011 01:21 GMT  ·  By

One would think that six million would be a big number, and they would normally be right, but it looks like, on the tablet segment, it is just an indicator of how unbalanced things are, for now anyway.

The tablet market has come a long way since it started off, last year, but the Apple iPad is still in a very clear lead.

One would think that Android-loaded models would have evened the field by now, but this is, apparently, not the case.

For whatever reason, Apple has sold many more iPads than all makers of Android slates managed put together.

At the end of the day, though, even if the Apple tablet is so far ahead, the fact is that the number of Android slates isn't exactly small either.

According to Google's Andy Rubin, there are about six million Android slates “out there”, and this includes only the ones that have access to Google services.

In other words, the figure might, ultimately, be bigger, not that it puts any big cracks in Apple's dominance.

Still, with things like the ASUS Eee pad Transformer 2 on the way, shipments can only grow, provided Apple doesn't start suing other companies like it has been suing and banning Samsung in various countries.

For those unaware, Apple has managed to get the Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned in Australia and Germany, and might do the same in the US too.

Considering that Apple sold 15 million iPads already, with three million in just 80 days from the original's debut, some may be wondering why Apple is making such a fuss.

Then again, in the end, it is the fault of the patent system that all these lawsuits are possible in the first place and, since it doesn't look like things will fundamentally change any time soon, these kinds of clashes will keep on happening.