iPad to stay ahead of Android tablets through 2015 says Gartner

Predicts 69.8 million media tablet sales in 2011, rising to 294 million in 2015, with Google and Apple duking it out.

Apple's iPad will remain top dog in the tablet market through 2015, despite hot competition from Google's Android OS. That's the view of Gartner, which has published its latest predictions for media tablet sales today.

It claims Apple will sell 48 million iPads this year, taking a market share of 68.7%. In 2015, Gartner thinks Apple will sell 138.5 million tablets, and will have a market share of 47.1% that year. Android? Gartner is predicting 13.9 million Android OS tablet sales in 2011 and a 19.9% market share, rising to 113.5 million (38.6%) in 2015.

Meanwhile, Gartner sees RIM's QNX-based OS for the BlackBerry PlayBook taking a 5.6% share this year with 3.9 million device sales, rising to 10% and 29.5 million in 2015. It sees webOS holding steady with 2.8 million sales and a 4% market share in 2011, and 8.9 million / 3% in 2015.

And MeeGo? It's fair to say Gartner doesn't expect Nokia and Intel's joint venture to take the tablet market by storm, predicting that 0.8 million MeeGo slates will be sold this year, rising to 3 million in 2015 - a weedy 1% share of the market.

Gartner's research VP Carolina Milanesi warns Apple's rivals that specs will not be what determines who succeeds or fails in the tablet game, warning that many "are making the same mistake that was made in the first response wave to the iPhone, as they are prioritizing hardware features over applications, services and overall user experience. Tablets will be much more dependent on the latter than smartphones have been, and the sooner vendors realize that the better chance they have to compete head-to-head with Apple."