iPad Controlled 80% of the North American Tablet Market in Q2

When you are talking about slim, modern day tablets, the iPad was the first to market. Before Apple’s slate, the “tablet” category was filled with clunky devices that ran desktop software and carried price tags over $1,000.

Obviously, being first has paid off for the company in dividends. I don’t think anyone would argue that the iPad has dominated the tablet market over the last two years, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon…

BGR passes on a report from Strategy Analysis this morning that points to some interesting findings. The market research firm believes that Apple sold approximately 6 million of the 7.5 million tablets shipped in the second quarter of this year.

Although the figure only represents sales in North America, the number is still staggering. Apple garnered nearly 80% of the tablet market on the continent in Q2, with essentially the same product (albeit slimmer and faster) that it launched in 2010.

SA analyst Alex Spektor:

“Apple remains a long way ahead of its main rivals such as Motorola, Samsung, RIM, Asus and HTC. A combination of cool branding, user-friendly hardware, entertaining services and savvy retail distribution has made Apple a formidable market leader.”

With HP and webOS dropping out of the tablet game, and RIM looking like it is close to pulling the plug as well, Apple’s forecast is looking good. And on top of that, holiday season is around the corner. Yeah, Tim Cook and company don’t need an iPad 3 this year.