Apple predicted to dominate tablet sales to 2015

Analysts at Gartner predict global sales of tablet computers will explode, rising from close to 70 million units in 2011, to 108 million in 2012, and then to 294 million units in 2015.

Apple's market share will be whittled down from 84 per cent of tablet sales in 2010 to 47 per cent in 2015, primarily by competition from manufacturers using the Android operating system.

Android market share will rise from 14 per cent in 2010, to 38.6 per cent in 2015, according to Gartner.

This means however, that prices for Android tablets will not be as low compared to Apple equivalents, as in the smartphone market.

The only other significant performer is BlackBerry, which will grow its market share from 4% on launch later this year, up to 10 per cent by 2015.

Gartner predicts Nokia will be the big loser. Nokia's MeeGo platform is in limbo following the 'Mokia' deal last month between Nokia and Microsoft, to form a strategic alliance for smartphones. This deal has not extended to tablets, and the future of the operating system, developed with Intel, remains in the balance.

Sales of MeeGo products will start from a low base – just 0.6 per cent of the market last year. This will creep up to 1.2 per cent by 2012, before falling back again to 1 per cent of the market by 2015.

Palm's WebOS system will make an immediate impact, says Gartner, rising to 4 per cent of the market by 2011, but then falling back to 3 per cent by 2015.

Carolina Milanesi, research vice-president at Gartner, said competitors to the iPad were "making the same mistake that was made in the first response wave to the iPhone, as they are prioritising hardware features over applications, services and overall user experience".

"Tablets will be much more dependent on the latter than smartphones have been, and the sooner vendors realize that the better chance they have to compete head-to-head with Apple."

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk