As Android Tablets Arrives, iPad’s Marketshare Shrinks From 95% To 77%

With competing products like the Samsung Galaxy Tab finally making their way onto store shelves, the iPad’s no longer the only tablet in town… and consequently iOS is starting to lose some of its dominance.

In fact, Android tablets were able to increase their market share over tenfold in the last quarter. The result? Apple’s dominance over the tablet market has shrunk from a commanding 95% market share to “just” 77%.

“The Samsung Galaxy Tab was the main driver of Android success,” said Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics. “Tablet makers like Android because of its perceived low cost and an accompanying range of compelling media services such as YouTube and Google Maps.”

Of course, there was never any doubt that Android tablets were eventually going to outnumber iPads, just like Android smartphones were eventually bound to outnumber iPhones. Apple’s not out to dominate the whole market: it’s only interested in being the best tablet, not the only tablet.

John Brownlee

John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.