It goes to show how far the new market segment has come

Jan 31, 2013 09:56 GMT  ·  By

Whether because of Microsoft's Windows 8/RT operating system or in spite of it, the tablet market did very well during the fourth quarter of the previous year (October-December, 2012). IDC says so.

The International Data Corporation is doing its part, examining the IT industry and checking to see which products did well and which didn't.

The report about the tablet market, for the fourth quarter of 2012, has been completed, and it doesn't really contain any overly shocking revelations.

No one actually expected tablets not to exhibit a large shipment increase, nor did they think the Apple iPad would lose its leading position in terms of sales.

Thus, the 75.3% overall increase, year-over-year, will hardly raise an eyebrow. The same goes for the 74.3% rise compared to the third quarter of 2012.

The October-December period ended with a shipment figure of 52.5 million, 22.9 million of which were iPads (48.1%).

Samsung was second place, with 7.9 million tablets, both Android and Windows-loaded. The number seems a bit lackluster next to Apple's, until people wizen up to the fact that it is 263% larger than in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Samsung really has come a long way, even though its feud with Apple is going strong still.

Amazon, ASUS and Barnes & Noble hold the third, fourth and fifth places. That B&N got that spot sheds some more light on its recent decision to close down stores.

Microsoft didn't make the top five because the Surface RT managed a modest figure of under 900,000 shipments.

"We expected a very strong fourth quarter, and the market didn't disappoint," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets, at IDC.

"New product launches from the category's top vendors, as well as new entrant Microsoft, led to a surge in consumer interest and very robust shipments totals during the holiday season. The record-breaking quarter stands in stark contrast to the PC market, which saw shipments decline during the quarter for the first time in more than five years."