Tablet computers running Android have collectively begun to challenge the dominance of Apple’s iPad, stealing 20% of the iPad’s market share in the last year, according to ABI Research.
While no individual tablet, be it the Motorola Xoom or Samsung Galaxy Tab, comes close to challenging the iPad directly, all Android-based tablets combined are gaining fast on Apple’s ever-popular offering.
As of May, the iPad boasted dominance of 82% of the tablet market. As new Android tablets make their way onto the market, they’re slowly chipping away at that number.
Still, it may be awhile before Android stands a chance of overtaking iOS as the top tablet operating system, as it just did in the smartphone space. The iPad is expected by most analysts to remain dominant for years to come, with Gartner predicting it remain dominant until at least 2015. By that point, Android is expected to have captured 38.6% of the tablet market.
Android’s tablet market share will likely continue to grow as new devices are released and as Google prepares to launch the next version of the OS, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, which will finally merge the smartphone and tablet versions of the operating system, allowing for a more consistent experience across devices. The fragmentation of the Android operating system has been one of the reasons consumers have not embraced it, something that Ice Cream Sandwich may change.
Whether or not it ever overtakes Apple’s iPad has yet to be seen. If the analysts are to be believed, the Apple is safe for at least a few more years.
