Tablet Sales Expected to Double This Year

In a report issued today, Gartner predicts tablet sales will double to about 118.9 million units this year, notes Fortune.

Apple's share of the market is expected to decline slightly from 66.6% last year to 61.4% this year.


"Despite PC vendors and phone manufacturers wanting a piece of the pie and launching themselves into the media tablet market, so far, we have seen very limited success outside of Apple with its iPad," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. "As vendors struggled to compete on price and differentiate enough on either the hardware or ecosystem, inventories were built and only 60 million units actually reached the hands of consumers across the world. The situation has not improved in early 2012, when the arrival of the new iPad has reset the benchmark for the product to beat."