Tablet shipments climb by 75 per cent to 52 million units in fourth quarter

Worldwide tablet shipments soared by 75.3 percent to 52.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, compared with 29.9 million units a year earlier, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
Fourth quarter shipments rose by 74.3 per cent versus 30.1 million units in the third quarter. The market was led by Apple with 22.9 million units shipped, 48.1 per cent more than in the fourth quarter of 2011, giving it a 43.6 per cent market share. Samsung's unit sales surged by 263 per cent to 7.9 million units, for a 15.1 per cent market share, followed by Amazon, up by 26.8 per cent to six million units for an 11.5 per cent share, Asus up by 402.5 per cent to 3.1 million units for a 5.8 per cent share, Barnes & Noble down 27.7 per cent to one million units for a 1.9 per cent share, and others up 77.4 per cent to 11.6 million units. Microsoft entered the market during the quarter with its Surface tablet running Windows RT, but failed to reach the top five after shipping fewer than 900,000 units.