Apple’s iPad accounted for 75 percent of the global tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2010, down from 96 percent in the prior quarter, according to a new report. Citing market researcher Strategy Analytics, Bloomberg reports that while iPad shipments jumped 74 percent compared to the previous quarter, to 7.3 million, shipments of Android-based tablets—driven by sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab devices—went from 100,000 in the third quarter to 2.1 million units in the fourth, good for a 22 percent share of the market. “The Samsung Galaxy Tab was the main driver of Android success,” Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics, wrote in the report. “Tablet makers like Android because of its perceived low cost and an accompanying range of compelling media services such as YouTube and Google Maps.” Apple is expected to face increasing competition in the tablet market this year, as rivals such as Motorola, HP, RIM, Samsung, and Acer are all expected to launch tablet devices in the first half of 2011.
Update: Samsung has clarified its sales numbers for the Galaxy Tab, saying that the two million unit figure it reported last week was actually the number of devices it shipped to wireless companies and retailers. According to the Wall Street journal, Samsung executive Lee Young-hee went as far as to say that actual sales to consumers were “quite small,” which would obviously have an effect on the figures provided by Strategy Analytics.