World-Wide Tablet Shipments Jump 37% in 3rd Quarter -- IDC

   By John Kell 
 

World-wide shipments of tablets jumped nearly 37% in the third quarter from a year ago, with Android products again fueling much of the growth in that segment, according to industry watcher International Data Corp.

For the latest quarter, 47.6 million units were shipped, rising 7% from the previous quarter.

Shipments of Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPad inched up less than 1% from a year earlier to 14.1 million units. IDC said Apple's slow growth was partly due to a decision to move its product launches to the fourth quarter, which caused its share of the market to fall to the lowest point to date.

However, with Apple's iPad Air and a refreshed iPad mini expected to begin shipping next month, IDC expects the tech giant will see more robust shipment growth in the current quarter.

Samsung Electronics Co.'s (SSNHZ, 028050.SE) tablet shipments totaled about 9.7 million units in the third quarter, more than double the year-earlier levels. Samsung held 20.4% market share, behind Apple's 29.6%.

Smaller players including ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUUY, 2357.TW ), Lenovo Group Ltd. (0992.HK) and Acer Inc. (ACEIY, 2353.TW) also reported sharply higher unit sales, though all three shipped fewer than four million units each, thus grabbing small share of the market.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), meanwhile, again failed to crack the top five tablet makers, according to IDC.

Write to John Kell at [e-mail]

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