Interesting research from researchers at Forrester highlight that Apple have totally dominated the US tablet market. If you want to launch a product to get market share then Europe looks to be a stronger bet.

Apple are predicted to take 80 percent of the market in the US, according to Forrester reports, which is a staggering result if it comes true. Europe is not as strong, with 70 percent of the market up for grabs this year.

There are several reasons for the differences in market share, as Apple have 238 physical stores in the States and there are only 52 stores across all of Europe, with 30 of those 52 stores in the United Kingdom. Apple may be seen as a worldwide company, but surprisingly there is not even an online store available in Poland.

Author Lingrid Lunden shares her views on the situation “The challenges in Europe, as outlined by Forrester, are not really that much different from those in the rest of the world. Chief among them is price, with competing tablets selling for upwards of €400 ($570). While this is the same price as that of an iPad 2, these products, most of them built on Android, significantly lack enough cache to compete at that point. Retailers think typical prices should instead be between €150 and €300, notes Forrester. That’s before payments for 3G contracts are factored in.

Add to this the current economic climate, which will be more of a force as tablets move beyond higher-earning, early adopters and look for customers in the mass market. Forrester notes that in Europe, the tablet market is skewed to younger people, who tend to also be in lower income brackets.

There is also the issue of supply, with the natural disasters in Japan affecting the rate of manufacturing and the prices for components.”

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