39%: Android catching up on iOS in tablet shipments

27 million tablets were shipped in the fourth quarter of last year. Out of those, 15.4 million - and thus the largest part - were iPads. More newsworthy: 10.5 million were Android tablets, which means Android is on iOS heels with 39% to 58% of the market.

Compared to a year ago (Q4 2010), Android could get quite a bit of the tablet cake iOS had mainly for itself so far. iOS share went down by about 10%, Androids did grow by about that same percentage, recent numbers by Strategy Analytics indicate.

iOS 8:7 Android

In general, the market is growing extensively, having more than doubled compared to a year ago. In total numbers, Apple sold 8 million more tablets, Android 7 million.



So, although Strategy Analytics states that "Apple shrugged off the much-hyped threat from entry-level Android models this quarter" and kept a total majority, Android is a more than serious competitor in the tablet market.

Recent estimations that Android will overtake iOS in developer interest within 2012, point in the same direction. Android's potential power is not only due to differences in the OS itself and the multiple hardware choices. It also lies in the great power of its mother Google and the comfort of having its other services right at hand.

Google: privacy concerns

That mother has recently got under fire for doing what some see as a breaking of its "Don't be evil"-principle. Most obvious change is the inclusion of Google+ content into Google Search results, often ranked before other results that might be considered more relevant - and were considered by Google before the changes.

Furthermore, a recent change of privacy policy by Google might also affect Android users. While the new privacy rules by Google are seen as a positive step by some, as they are a combined set of rules for basically all their products (instead of different ones for each product), others point to the dangers of the changes. The privacy policy, which will be effective as of March 2012, allows tracking users universally across all its services (Gmail, Search, YouTube, Google+ etc.) and sharing data on user activity across all of them. For Android users, these data might include real-time location, Google Wallet data and more.

See also:
3 billion: One out of five iOS downloads was an iPad app
Android news: Tablet plans, mobile Hangouts, Nexus ninjas
Christmas sales: Galaxy Tab in US & Australian shops after court decisions