Apple Inc's worldwide tablet market share would see a slip in 2012, according to latest data.
Research firm International Data Corp (IDC) said that devices running on Google's Android platform stand a better chance among users than Apple's iPad series and iPad mini. According to the report, Apple's tablet market share would come down to 53.8 percent in 2012 from 56.3 percent in 2011 .The survey also predicted that Android tablets in the market would see growth from 39.8 percent to 42.7 percent.
"The breadth and depth of Android has taken full effect on the tablet market as it has for the smartphone space," said Ryan Reith, program manager for IDC's Mobile Device Trackers.
"Android tablet shipments will certainly act as the catalyst for growth in the low-cost segment in emerging markets given the platform's low barrier to entry on manufacturing," he added.
Although Apple is expanding its tablet market across the globe, its tablet market share would further dip to 49.7 percent in 2016 from 53.8 percent. Also, tablets running on Microsoft Corp's Windows operating systems would steel both Apple's iOS and Android tablet market share. The report forecasted that the market share of Windows OS including Windows 8 and Windows RT would reach 2.9 percent in 2012 and 10.2 percent in 2016.
"Tablets continue to captivate consumers, and as the market shifts toward smaller, more mobile screen sizes and lower prices points, we expect demand to accelerate in the fourth quarter and beyond," said Tom Mainelli, research director of tablets as quoted by the Reuters.
IDC projected that worldwide shipment of tablet will rise to 122.3 million units by the end of this year from the earlier forecast of 117.1 million units. In 2013, the shipment will go up even further to 172.4 million units which is an increase on its previous estimation of 165.9 million units.
