Google’s Android operating system has taken a bite out of Apple’s domination of the tablet market, according to new research.
Strategy Analytics states that although Apple remains the market leader with 58 per cent of the market, Android has moved up to claim a 39 per cent global share.
Google tablets gained 10 per cent of the market between Q4 2010 and Q4 2011, while Apple’s share decreased by a similar figure.
Some of the credit for Google’s market gain can be credited to the Amazon Kindle Fire, which uses the Android as its base OS but neither looks nor feels particularly like an Android experience.
Executives at Apple may not be too concerned about these figures though, as the Californian company still managed to ship 15.4 million iPads in Q4 2011, which represents am 8.1 million unit increase compared with Q4 2010.
However you wish to analyse the stats, one conclusion is unavoidable: the tablet market is thriving.
