IDC released figures this week on the worldwide tablet and eBook reader market for the 2010 third quarter, and to no one's surprise, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) dominated the tablet side with an astounding 90 percent of an estimated 4.8 million units shipped worldwide. Apple had the distinct advantage of being first to market with the iPad, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which reportedly sold a million units in just two months, didn't even appear until the fourth quarter.

Still, while it's Apple's world for now, the lead should begin to shrink substantially in 2011, as we see a slew of new entrants throughout this year including offerings from HP (NYSE: HPQ), RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Asus to name but a few. Many of these devices will based on Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android OS, but certainly not all of them. HP will be running WebOS, for instance, and at least one offering from Asus will be running Windows. Playbook will run a new OS specially created for the device.

As for the eBook reader market, Amazon Kindle clearly dominated with more than 41 percent of all units sold. Surprisingly, Pandigital's Novel eReaders outsold the Barnes and Noble Nook line, although just barely with 15.4 percent for B&N and 16.1 for Pandigital. Perhaps Pandigital has the advantage of being sold across a variety of venues including department stores, such as Kohls and Target. Sony, which has been at it for some time could only manage 8.4 percent.

You may be wondering how IDC got these figures, especially for the Amazon data. (Amazon has not been very forthcoming with Kindle sales figures.) IDC says it looks at a variety of information including vendor interviews, channel partner discussions and component suppliers.

For a complete list and other details about IDC's data gathering methodology, see the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker Fact Sheet.

For more information:
- see the IDC press release

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