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Apple: The undisputed leader in the tablet market

This might not be a surprise to anyone. Research firm IDC reports that the iPad represented nearly 90 percent of media tablets shipped in the third quarter of 2010. This is a fairly big deal because the tablet market itself picked up by a whopping 45 percent, going from 3.3 million tablets shipped in the second quarter to 4.8 million tablets shipped in the third quarter. With an increase of 1.5 million units being shipped in just three months, that's a sizeable increase in a growing market.

IDC restricts its study to tablets with screens larger than 5 inches but smaller than 14 inches. It also restricts the idea of "media tablets" to devices that run a "lightweight" operating system like iOS or Android. That's a fairly tight definition of media tablet, but it probably includes most devices your average consumer would consider purchasing.

With all of the new iPad toys we saw previewed at CES, it's fairly likely that the iPad will continue to be strong through 2011. It will be interesting to see how Apple measures up against all the tablet-come-lately competitors, and whether the iPad's overwhelming dominance will continue.

[Via The Mac Observer]