Research firm sees growth for Android-based tablets

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tablet computers using Google Inc's Android-based system will steal some sales from Apple Inc's iPad and hold 15.2 percent of the market in 2011, industry tracker IMS Research said.

The firm said in a report that over 15 suppliers will sell Android-based tablets by mid-2011, including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Acer Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Dell Inc.

On the strength of those devices, IMS projected that Android will command 15.2 percent of the tablet market in 2011. And that will grow to 28.4 percent in 2015, IMS said.

Samsung has said it plans to sell 1 million of its Galaxy Tab tablets this year, according to Nikkei business daily.

"The availability of Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablet via mobile carriers such as AT&T in the U.S. will quickly boost Google Android's presence in the tablet market," Anna Hunt, the IMS report author and principal analyst, said in a statement.

Research firm iSuppli expects 15.6 million tablets to ship this year, with 13.8 million of those being iPads, which got a head start on the competition with a launch in April.

Next year, 57.3 million tablets are expected to ship with the iPad making up 43.7 million of those units, iSuppli said.

Companies competing against the iPad by bringing out a new tablet must contend with the fact many application developers are gearing their products to the iPad's specifications, said Rhoda Alexander, an analyst with iSuppli.

The IMS Research report also notes that technology companies Research in Motion Ltd and Hewlett Packard Co have invested in operating system technology for tablets. As a result, IMS forecasts that, in 2011, 7.8 percent of tablets shipped will run on operating systems other than Apple OS, Android or Microsoft Corp's Windows.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; editing by Andre Grenon)