Andy Rubin, who is in charge of Android over at Google, stated that 6 million tablets are running a version Google’s Android OS. This clearly shows that Android tablets are gaining ground in the iPad-dominated market.“We haven’t sold 30 million units yet, but it is a good start,” said Andy, Google’s vice president of mobile, when he answered a question on why Android tablets had “completely flopped.”
In comparison, Apple has sold over 11 million iPads last quarter alone, a figure that no other tablet manufacturer has come close to.
“Evidently, we still have some catching up to do,” Rubin said at the AsiaD conference that was presented not long ago.
His comments come after a series of strategic moves targeting the company’s efforts to grow a stronger presence in the tablet market. Google has recently revamped its Android operating systems for tablets, fixing fragmentation issues and rising app functionality. Android tablets also specifically aimed education this year, a niche market that was born because of Apple’s iPad.
Android is also installed on tablets that are not marketed as “Android devices,” which include Amazon’s new Kindle Fire. The Kindle Fire is off to a great start in the tablet war selling over 95,000 units on its release day which was earlier this month. With an affordable $200 price tag, which is less than 50% that of the iPad, Amazon is showing that iPad rivals are applying a mixture of tactics to get ahead in the tablet market.
The Android tablet push isn’t without offsets. Samsung is in a patent battle with Apple relating the touch screen on the Galaxy 10.1 android tablet, the nearest challenger to the iPad 2. The tablet is temporarily prohibited of being sold in Australia and Samsung is waiting to find out about potential injunctions in the United States as well, suggesting that less tablet users could be having an Android-powered holiday season because of this war with Apple.
As of now, Android is the most successful mobile platform, with over 500,000 Android devices being activated daily. If the company can bring some of the smartphone success to the tablet market, 6 million android tablet sales could grow into something a lot bigger, but only time will tell.
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