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The Earth isn't flat (Flat Eath Society begs to differ), and neither are tablet or eReader shipments. On the contrary, these devices are flying off the shelves all around the globe. The folks over at International Data Corporation (IDC) did some number crunching and determined that media tablet shipments jumped nearly 89 percent on a sequential basis, and a mind boggling 303.8 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2011.
"Media tablet shipments grew at a solid pace in the second quarter, led by continued strong demand for Apple products," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Mobile Connected Devices. "We expect shipment totals to continue to grow in the third and fourt quarter, as additional vendors introduce more price-competitive Android products into the market and Apple works to maintain its dominance in the category."
IDC says Apple shipped 9.3 million iPad 2 devices in the second quarter, which accounts for 68.3 percent of the global tablet market. RIM's PlayBook clutched to a 4.9 percent share, while Android tablets collectively tripped up from 34 percent in the previous quarter to 26.8 percent in Q2.
The numbers weren't quite as robust for eReader shipments, which experienced a seasonal dip in the second quarter and dropped 9 percent to 5.4 million units. However, eReader shipments skyrocketed 167 percent year-over-year, with Amazon leading the way with a 51.7 percent share of the eBook reader market. Barnes & Noble, meanwhile, took a 21.2 percent share.
These are all big numbers, but does it mean we're officially in the post PC era? We'll let our own Gordon Mah Ung answer that one.
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