Tablets still popular, but sales are down

Tablet devices continue to gain in popularity, but their sales may be slowing a bit.

More than 217 million tablets were sold worldwide in 2013, a 50 percent increase from the year before, Mobile Entertainment reports today.

And what did people want for Christmas? Tablets.

The holidays were particularly strong for tablet sales, say analysts at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC. Sales in the fourth fiscal quarter reached 77 million,  up 62.4 percent compared to the previous quarter, and 28.2 percent from the year before.

However, says IDC …

“While the market’s growth rates remain impressive, they’re down dramatically compared to the year-over-year rates of the same quarter one year ago (87.1 percent) and indicate a significant slowing of the overall market.”

Apple’s iPad is the market share leader, sending out 26 million of the devices in the fourth quarter, with Samsung stitting in second place. Apple owns a third of the worldwide tablet market. Good numbers but, IDC says, lower than the industry average.