The humble tablet has had a meteoric rise since the launch of Apple’s iPad, which was described as an iPhone without the phone or convenience of fitting into a users pocket. A new report says sales of the tablet PC which are now as familiar as a smartphone, hit nearly 67 million sales in 2011.

Although Apple’s iPad has had record sales Android’s platform has enjoyed 39% cut of 26 million tablets sold around the world in the 4th quarter of 2011, according to latest report from Strategy Analytics. Apple’s iOS has maintained its leading position of 58% share for the 4th quarter.

That report also said over 66 million tablets were sold in 2011 globally, a huge 260% rise from 18 million units in 2010. The report does not include eBooks in its sales figures for tablets.

The Consumer Electronics Association has reported that about 260 million TV sets were sold worldwide in 2011. Unlike tablets, however, TV set sales are expected to rise only slightly to 262 million units in 2012.

“Global tablet shipments reached an all-time high of 26.8 million units in Q4 2011, surging 150% from 10.7 million” Said the director Peter King of Strategy Analytics in a statement, with strong demand from consumers, businesses and educational users.

“Apple shipped a robust 15.4 million iPads worldwide and maintained its strong market leadership with 58% share during the fourth quarter of 2011. Apple shrugged off the much-hyped threat from entry-level Android models this quarter.”

The executive director Neil Mawston at strategy Analytics, added “Android captured a record 39 percent share of global tablet shipments in Q4 2011, rising from 29 percent a year earlier. Global Android tablet shipments tripled annually to 10.5 million units.”

He continued “Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes. Android is so far proving relatively popular with tablet manufacturers despite nagging concerns about fragmentation of Android’s operating system, user-interface and app store ecosystem.”

Microsoft has captured a 1% global tablet share in 4th quarter, it will make the future release of Windows 8 later this year particularly important for the company’s efforts to scramble back into the rapidly growing tablet business.

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