Tablet stats: iPad still rules, but the competition is catching up

8% of the UK population now owns a tablet, which equates to roughly 3m users, according to stats from YouGov. 

The stats show Apple's dominance of this market with the iPad, but also that other tablets are beginning to catch up. The iPad's market share has slipped from 75% to 71% between Q1 and Q2 2012. 

Tablet market share in the UK

As you can see, the iPad is all-conquering, with the new iPad3 alone accounting for 11% of the market. Of all Apple's competitors, Samsung is making the biggest impression. 

Why people switch to other tablets

Not surprisingly, price is the most important factor. While the iPad performs well for user satisfaction, it under-performs in the value for money category. 

The 665 respondents to this question are current tablet owners who have considered purchasing a different tablet than the one they have.

What does this mean for marketers?

Tablets have massive potential for marketers, and while it's inevitable that competitors will eat more and more into Apple's market share, the iPad will be the dominant device for the next couple of years at least. 

Stats have shown that conversion rates for iPad are very promising, higher than desktop at times, and 69% of tablet users make a purchase on them at least once a month. 

There are a few reasons for this: the fact that most sites are easy to use on tablets (though there is room for improvement), they are often downtime devices but mainly as tablets (and especially the iPad) tend to be used by a wealthier, and therefore less price sensitive, demographic. 

As other (cheaper) tablets enter the market and eat up some of Apple's share, it's likely that this effect will be diluted, though there is still plenty of value in targeting iPad users with branded apps, ads, and of course, optimised sites which maximise conversion rates.