Tablet shipments will more than triple in EMEA in 2011

22 MILLION TABLETS will be shipped in 2011 in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA), according to the latest report by market research firm IDC.

Demand for tablets is expected to be high this year and will more than triple the six million units shipped last year, massive growth for what is still a new market.

This substantial growth will be in part thanks to continuing high sales of the Ipad and Ipad 2, as well as the launch of numerous rival tablets, most of which run Google's Android operating system. Demand is expected to increase further in the second half of the year due to back-to-school needs and the pre-Christmas shopping season.

High uptake is forecast to continue in Western Europe, particularly in the UK, France and Germany, while Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa will see gradual increases in demand as more tablets become available there.

IDC said that Apple had an 80 per cent share of the tablet market in 2010 and is expected to continue its dominance in 2011, but the arrival of a number of tablets running Android 3.0, Honeycomb, will help Google steal some of that market share. The increased competition will also aid consumers as prices will be slashed to keep up sales.

High growth in the tablet market will not end in 2011 either. IDC forecast that by 2015 tablet shipments will grow to 60 million units in the EMEA region. µ