Research firm iSuppli released a report today showing that the introduction of the Kindle Fire and the unveiling of Apple’s iPhone 4S took a bite out of Apple’s tablet share. According to the report — despite Apple’s record sales of 15.4 million iPads during the fourth quarter — the company’s worldwide market share in tablets slipped from 64 percent to 57 percent.
iSuppli estimated that Amazon sold 3.9 million Kindle Fires during the fourth quarter, giving it a 14 percent share, compared with Apple’s 57%. Samsung came in third with a market share of eight percent, followed by Barnes & Noble and its Nook device at seven percent. Remember, however, Amazon’s Kindle was only available in the last 45 days of 2011.
According to iSuppli, Windows Phone will account for 16.7 percent of the smartphones shipped in 2015, up from less than 2 percent in 2011. Windows Phone 7 will beat out the iPhone and become the No. 2 smartphone platform by 2015, in large part because of the Nokia deal.
Android is on track to become a planetary force. It will redefine global economic and political boundaries. There seems to be no stopping it.
