Samsung has sold 1 million Galaxy Tab tablet devices worldwide just two months after putting it on sale outside the U.S., and all four major wireless U.S. carriers starting sales in mid-November.
The larger 9.7-inch screen Apple iPad tablet hit the 1 million sold mark just one month after going on sale in April. Nonetheless, the Samsung sales results show that the Android-based, 7-inch touchscreen of the Galaxy Tab is indeed popular as well.
The Thanksgiving holiday likely helped spur sales in the U.S., although Samsung has not revealed sales figures for specific regions. A Samsung spokesperson confirmed that global sales had reached the 1 million sales.
Individual carriers recently said they were encouraged by Galaxy Tab sales, but did not reveal any specific figures.
The 9.7-inch touchscreen iPad is undoubtedly going to dominate the tablet market for some time, with more than 4 million sold in Apple's fourth quarter that ended in Oct. 31. Analysts have estimated that more than 8 million iPads had been sold overall prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Samsung and Google's Android mobile OS could be considered the biggest winners with the early success of the Galaxy Tab. Android-based Samsung's Galaxy S smartphones are sold by most of the major U.S. carriers as Samsung pushes to improve its presence in the important U.S. market.
Samsung was shown to be the biggest mobile device manufacturer selling to U.S. buyers in the latest ComScore survey, released Friday. Of 30,000 people surveyed, 24.2% said they are were using a Samsung phone or other Samsung mobile device.
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen, or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed . His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.