Apple is the clear leader in the US tablet market. But who’s the best of the rest? Would you believe it’s Hewlett-Packard and its HP TouchPad.
The NPD Group reports that US tablet sales (excluding the iPad) topped 1.2 million units in the January to October 2011 time frame. Sales are growing quickly with each quarter performing better than the prior quarter. For example, third quarter sales doubled those of the second quarter. NPD also thinks that non-Apple tablets will continue to grow:
“If you look at the tablet market without Apple there are a number of high-profile brands vying for that number two spot,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. “According to NPD’s Consumer Tracking Service, 76 percent of consumers who purchased a non-Apple tablet didn’t even consider the iPad, an indication that a large group of consumers are looking for alternatives, and an opportunity for the rest of the market to grow their business.”
With a 17 percent market share, Hewlett-Packard was the top non-iPad tablet vendor with sales of about 204,000 devices. Samsung was close behind with a 16 percent market share (192,000 tablets sold). With Samsung having been in the market so much longer than HP, the numbers are a bit of a surprise (and likely a bit of an embarrassment for the company). Fortunately, Samsung can expect to grab second place in the near future with HP having bowed out of the webOS hardware business this summer.
Rounding out the top five were ASUS with a 10 percent market share with Acer and Motorola tied at 9 percent.
Source: Electronista