IDC Finds That 2010 Finished with Almost 18 Million Shipped Tablets

Since the first quarter of 2011 is more or less nearing its end, market analysts are wrapping up their findings about the last part of 2010, and it seems that tablets and e-readers both thrived last year.

That e-book readers have been growing in sales each months is something that has been going on as far back as 2009.

Meanwhile, media tablets, spearheaded by the iPad and, now, the iPad 2, have been gaining traction at what could be seen as a positively alarming (or in this case impressive) rate.

Already analyst noticed netbooks losing market share, and impacting on PC maker revenues, as slates grew in number and ability, and it appears they sold by the millions already.

Granted, Apple's slate is the start of the show, but the fact remains that, according to a recent press release from IDC, almost 18 million devices of the sort were shipped.

Of those, 93% were delivered by Apple in Q3 (shipments were of 4.5 million), a share that decreased to 73% in the fourth quarter (October-December), when the total was of 10.1 million, more than twice as many. The Galaxy Tab from Samsung seems to have gained a large part of the recognition.

As for e-readers, they totaled 12.8 million for the whole year, up 325% over what was achieved in 2009, when the amount was roughly 3 million.

Retailers were the channels most used in delivery of slates during Q410, though direct and teleco sales weren't too far behind.

"Strong holiday sales of media tablets were in line with IDC projections and strong consumer interest in the category while device vendors scrambled to offer products competitive with Apple's iPad and now iPad 2," said Loren Loverde, vice president, Consumer Device Trackers.

"Media Tablets are on pace to reach shipments of roughly 50 million units in 2011," he added.