Apple Is Killing Amazon, Google in Tablet Market

It might not be much of a surprise, but Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is officially lapping any and all competitiors in the tablet market thanks to the overwhelming popularity of the iPad, according to a quarterly report from the International Data Corporation, which tracks mobile phone and tablet sales and shipments in the world market.

Apple sent 17 million iPad tablets to market during the most recently completed quarter, according to IDC data, which accounted for 68 percent of the 25 million tablets in total that were shipped. That is up 7 percentage points from the previous quarter. And the market share increased even though Samsung saw a 116 percent increase in its tablet sales over the same period of 2011, which allowed it to jump into second place in the market with 2.4 million units shipped.

That 68-percent market share overwhelms all competitors, including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Samsung. This may set up Apple well with shiny new competitors coming on, like the recent releases of the Nexus 7 tablet by Google and ASUS, as well as Windows 8 and Windows RT phones, not to mention the possible larger version of the Kindle Fire.

With the influx of new competition, having such a huge market advantage may actually help Apple, or at least won’t help the competition.

“If anything, there’s a real risk that people will have too many options from which to choose this holiday season. Consumers baffled by the differences between Amazon and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) versions of Android, or Windows 8 and Windows RT, may well default to market leader Apple,” wrote Bob O’Donnell, IDC vice president. “Or they may simply choose to remain on the sideline for another cycle.”

But as of now, Apple is the undisputed king of tablets, with Samsung coming in second with just 9.6 percent of worldwide market share.  Amazon was third with  5 percent, followed by ASUS and Acer, which are affiliated with Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ).

We must note that Amazon only distributes its Kindle Fire in the U.S., while virtually everyone else distributes worldwide.