HP’s Axed TouchPad Is Best-Selling Non-iPad Tablet In The U.S. – Study

A new study has revealed that the TouchPad, which HP recently killed, was the best-selling non-iPad tablet in the U.S. for the first 10 months of 2011.

According to the NPD group, the HP TouchPad took a 17 percent market share of all 1.2 million non-iPad tablets sold in the U.S. for January up to October of this year.

Needless to say, the iPad still reigned supreme in the U.S. tablet market for the period. Trouncing its rivals in terms of sales is an understatement; just for the previous quarter, 11 million units of the tablet from the Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker were sold.

Nonetheless, NPD says that people in the U.S. are not blinded by the iPad. At least those who bought non-iPad tablets aren’t.

“Seventy-six percent of consumers who purchased a non-Apple tablet didn’t even consider the iPad, an indication that a large group of consumers are looking for alternatives, and an opportunity for the rest of the market to grow their business,” NPD VP of industry analysis said in a statement, the Agence France-Presse reports.

Even so, the NPD VP said that “The market is filled with long-time personal computer and phone brands as well as low-cost entrants.”

“With a limited amount of shelf space and challenges in overcoming the iPad’s first mover strength, not all brands will be successful,” he added.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s Galaxy tablets were second to the HP TouchPad in terms of sales for the first ten months of the year. According to NPD’s study, the South Korean consumer tech powerhouse’s tablets took 16 percent share of all non-iPad tablets sold in the country for the said period.

Asus got 10 percent of non-iPad tablet sales while Motorola and Acer both got a 9 percent share.