Strong iPad 2 sales spurred media tablet shipments to 13.6m in Q2

IDC ups its projections for 2011 as a whole to 62.5m units.

13.6 million media tablets were shipped in the second quarter of 2011, according to figures published by analyst firm IDC. That's up 303.8% year-on-year and 88.9% quarter-on-quarter.

IDC claims that Apple's 9.3 million iPad 2 shipments thus accounted for 68.3% of the market. What's surprising about that is that Apple's share actually rose from its 65.7% in Q2, despite increased competition from rivals.

How did they do? IDC estimates that Android's share slipped from 34% to 26.8% in the same period, meaning just over 3.6 million shipments in Q2. Meanwhile, the report suggests that RIM shipped around 666,000 BlackBerry PlayBooks in Q2 for a 4.9% share of the market.

It should be noted that these figures are for shipments, not sales. Apple claims to be selling iPads as fast as it can ship them, but it is unclear how many Android tablets and PlayBooks are sitting on the warehouse shelves of retailers - a matter of some debate within the industry.

IDC has upped its prediction for overall media tablet shipments in 2011 to 62.5 million units from its previous estimate of 53.5 million. The new figure includes nearly one million HP TouchPads as the company shifts inventory of its killed-off tablet at a bargain price.