Given that there are approximately a gazillion Android-based tablets on the market, one might expect that the Android hardware market for tablets is massively fragmented.

But according to new data that app analytics and ad service Datalytics is publishing tomorrow, that’s not what’s happening. Rather, the big tabs are getting the lion’s share of the market, increasing their lead on other tablets.

That’s especially true for Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Samsung’s stable of tablets.

For example, ad impressions on Amazon’s 7″ Kindle Fire grew 322 percent from November to the end of December. Samsung’s Galaxy Note II grew 80 percent, it’s popular Tab 2 10.1″ tablet grew 78 percent, and the smaller Tab 2 7″ grew 72 percent. The Nook also grew, though not as swiftly, picking up an additional 62 percent in ad impressions.

Ad impressions, of course, is not an exactly science, or an entirely accurate method of calculating market share of devices sold. But it can provide a fairly good indicator of which devices are actually being used.

Datalytics provides data on user behavior for tens of thousands of apps, which were installed on over 60 million devices as of mid-2012, which should form a significant enough sample size to at least be indicative of what’s happening in the market.

The data also showed a move in iDevice market share. According to the company the iPhone 5 now constitutes 18 percent of all iPhones in use, with the 4S still retaining the crown of most popular iPhone, with 40 percent of the market.

In terms of the new iPad mini, Datalytics data suggests that it’s selling a little slower than the iPad 4, with the 4th-generation iPad clocking in at about eight percent of the overall iPad market, and the mini picking up six percent.

Whether those numbers are accurate or not we’ll know for sure in just a couple of weeks as Apple reports its Q1 2013 results.

Filed under: Business, Gadgets, Mobile, VentureBeat

Categorised as: Chief Digital Officer | Digital Media | Feedster

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