Talk about missing the target. ABI originally estimated that 2010 will end with 4 million tablets shipped. Now that Apple announced that it has sold 3.27 million iPads, the research company is changing the tune, big time. Under the new revisited forecasts, this year will close with 11 million tablets shipped. That’s almost 3 times the original figure!
ABI says their initial estimates were made before the iPad was officially announced, and like many in the industry, they haven’t believed in the prospects of such a device.
However, the research company says their long-term estimates remain basically unchanged – and they are 57 million tablets shipped by 2015.
We can only guess how many iPad units Apple will move until the end of the year now that the device is available in more markets around the world. Moreover, we also expect to see a number of Android-powered tablets being unveiled this year, and perhaps the first webOS tablet, brought to us by HP. We’ll definitely watch this market and keep you folks in the loop…