U.S. Tablet and eBook Reader Sales Soar in 2011: Apple Leads Market Growth
In July, we reported that the tablet market had lost some momentum from January to May 2011. However, as announced by the US market research company IDC in a recent press release, it turns out that this was just a brief hiccup, as the tablet market grew unexpectedly fast in the second quarter of 2011. Sales increased by 88.9 percent compared to the sluggish first quarter. When compared to the same period last year, this marks a huge increase of 303.8 percent!
In absolute numbers, this means: 13.6 million tablets were sold in the US during the second quarter. This strong sales growth even surprised the market researchers, who have now increased their forecast for tablet sales for the entire year of 2011 from 53.5 million to 62.5 million units.
This sharp increase is likely also related to the launch of the iPad 2 in March. Potential buyers may have simply held off on purchasing a tablet for a few weeks as they waited for the successor to the iPad 1. This theory is further supported by Apple’s growing market share in the tablet market. Apple was able to increase its market share from 65.7 percent in the first quarter to 68.3 percent in the second quarter. The Blackberry Playbook managed to only capture a 4.9 percent share.
Meanwhile, Android tablets are not selling particularly well – their market share dropped from 34 percent to 26.8 percent during the same period.
The market for eBook readers behaves somewhat differently:
The first half of the year is traditionally weaker, while the pre-Christmas season in recent years has consistently set new sales records. Nevertheless, the market has continued to grow significantly. Compared to the previous year’s period, sales in the second quarter increased by 167 percent. Again, market researchers have had to revise their yearly forecasts upward, from 16.2 million to 27 million units.
In this market, Amazon holds 51.7 percent of the American eBook reader market, followed by Barnes & Noble with 21.2 percent.
Reportedly, these numbers are almost unbelievable compared to the German market. A local market analysis concludes that in 2011, only 1.5 million tablets and 232,000 eBook readers are expected to be sold in Germany – no match for the booming US market.
However, Apple seems to be taking the largest slice of the massive tablet growth in the US. Two days ago, we reported that the Blackberry Playbook wasn’t selling well and that the manufacturer would likely take action. A price drop has now been announced, but the extent is still unclear. Moreover, the figures mentioned above seem to show that Android tablets overall are not selling particularly well. The still significant market share can probably be attributed to one specific device: the Barnes & Noble Nook Color. With its relatively low price, it offers a good entry point into the tablet world. It is assumed that Apple’s market share is even higher in Europe.
In light of these incredible sales figures in the US, it will be interesting to see when the tablet and eBook reader market reaches similar heights here.
