Strategy Analytics forecasts more than 780 million tablets in use worldwide in 2016

Market researcher Strategy Analytics has released a new study, "Global Tablet Installed Base Forecast by Country," which projects that the worldwide installed base of tablets will exceed 780 million units in 2016. According to analyst Matthew McKee, growth will be driven by ongoing price erosion and replacement of obsolete and broken tablets. He believes that the Asia Pacific region, led by China, India and Japan, will represent 25% of the entire global tablet installed base by the end of 2016, and will become the number one region, just ahead of North America. Here are a few other findings from the report:

• The global tablet installed base will increase by 125% this year. 
• By 2016, the top 14 countries will have over 50% household penetration of tablets. 
• Small, wealthy countries such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and Singapore will have the highest household tablet penetration.

iPad's market share increased in Q2, Android's share flat on higher shipments

TechCrunch reports on Strategy Analytics' Q2 tablet shipment report. iPad shipments increased to 17 million units in Q2 2012 from 9.3 million units in Q2 2011, while Android tablet shipments were 7.3 million units in Q2 2012 vs. 4.4 million in Q2 2011. Microsoft-based tablet shipments fell from 600,000 units in Q2 2011 to 300,000 in Q2 2012, as did "Others" (primarily the RIM PlayBook,) which fell from 700,000 in Q2 2011 to 300,000 in Q2 2012.

In terms of market share, Apple's share increased from 62% to 68.3%, while Android's share stayed flat at 29.3% despite the increase in units shipped. Microsoft's share dropped from 4% to 1.2%, and "Others" dropped from 4.7% to 1.2% Total tablet shipments grew 68.8% year-over-year.