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Apple last reported iPad sales numbers back in June when they announced over three million iPads has been sold in less than 80 days. Most analysts agree that Apple will easily exceed 10 million units this year, making it the best selling tablet device in the history of the market.
With a growing number of companies jumping into the tablet market with their own devices, the market has quickly become one of the fastest growing consumer electronics segments. Apple, not waiting on the competition, has been expanding the iPad ecosystem in order to grab market share.
The company is looking to extend its market share going into the all important holiday season and just recently added Walmart, Target, AT&T and Verizon as new retail sales channels. The availability of the iPad in these new retail outlets is sure to have a dramatic impact on iPad sales this year and help Apple grow its lead in this hot segment.
With increased supply and strong demand, Gartner expects worldwide consumer and enterprise adoption of media tablets to grow dramaticaly over the next several years. The company is forecasting tablet sales to exceed 54 million units in 2011 and grow to more than 154 million units sold in 2013.
This sharp increase in sales is expected to come at the expense of other consumer electronics devices as tablets begin to cannibilize sales of e-readers, netbooks, gaming devices and laptops. Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner says "Mini notebooks will suffer from the strongest cannibalization threat as media tablet average selling prices (ASPs) drop below $300 over the next 2 years."
The iPad has turned out to be a surprise hit, exceeding the wildest expectations of industry analysts and the press. When Apple first unveiled the iPad earlier this year, many people were skeptical that Apple could successfully establish a new "third class of device" as Steve Jobs had suggested. Fast forward six months, Apple has been able to successfully execute their iPad strategy and have filled a unique niche in the consumer electronics market by selling millions of iPads. Based on Gartner's forecasts, this trend should continue for the next several years.
