From IDC: Media Tablet and eReader Markets Beat Second Quarter Targets, Forecast Increased for 2011

From an IDC News Release:

Worldwide media tablet shipments rose by 88.9% on a sequential basis and 303.8% year over year in the second calendar quarter of 2011 (2Q11) to 13.6 million units, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker. Based on this strong performance in the second quarter, and an improved outlook for the second half of the year, IDC raised its shipment forecast for 2011 to 62.5 million units, up from a previous projection of 53.5 million units.

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Turning to eReaders, the second quarter experienced a seasonal dip, down 9% sequentially to 5.4 million units, while year-over-year growth was 167%. Amazon led the market with a 51.7% share, followed by Barnes & Noble with 21.2%. With product refreshes and following strong 2Q11 sales, IDC expects eReader shipments to grow significantly through the holiday season, reaching a total of 27.0 million units for the year, up from a previous projection of 16.2 million units.

“We expect major vendors to offer their current-generation black-and-white eReaders for less than $100 by the holidays,” Mainelli said. “We’re also expecting Amazon’s much-rumored, color LCD-based device to ship later this year. Because we expect it to run a customized version of Android that ties its use to Amazon’s content services, we expect the device to more closely resemble Barnes & Noble’s Color Nook than Apple’s iPad 2. As a result, our current plan is to count it as an eReader, and that will also help drive shipment numbers.”

More Stats in the Complete Announcement

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