http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/android-holds-nearly-40-percent-of-global-tablet-market-report/68100?tag=content;siu-container

Android holds nearly 40 percent of global tablet market: report

By Rachel King | January 27, 2012, 8:11am PST

Summary: Apple is still in the lead as iPad shipments are doing pretty well at 57.6 percent, but the global market share gap between iOS and Android is really starting to close.

The iPad doesn’t have one tablet in particular that it can consider direct competition — but Apple should take Android a little more seriously after a new report released this week.
Android came on strong during the fourth quarter, and it retained 39.1 percent of the global tablet market share as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the latest report from Strategy Analytics.
Apple is still in the lead as iPad shipments are doing pretty well at 57.6 percent, but that global gap appears to be closing more so these days.
Nevertheless, Strategy Analytics director Peter King explained in the report that “Apple shrugged off the much-hyped threat from entry-level Android models this quarter” as 15.4 million iPads worldwide shipped worldwide during Q4.
While the report does not cite which Android devices are doing the best, Laptop Magazine uncovered the two leading the pack, and you won’t be terribly surprised.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet (both released last fall, so they haven’t even been on the market a full year — barely a full quarter each) make up nearly the majority of Android tablet shipments together make up 40 percent of the Android share, according to King as told to Laptop.
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