Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com) expects worldwide tablet sales to reach 81.3 million units in 2012, up from 15.7 million in 2010. The iPad, which essentially revitalized the category, will remain the market-share leader through the forecast period, with an expected 69% of the global market in 2012, down from 85% in 2010, according to the research group.

Consumers in the US will be big drivers of tablet sales, making up 62% of all tablets sold in 2010. Looking back on successful technology launches personal computers, video-game consoles, DVD and MP3 players, smartphones the recent wave of tablets led by the Apple iPad stands out for its instant popularity and steep adoption curve, says Research and Markets.

What's more, the Yankee Group (http://www.yankeegroup.com) has released its first-ever global tablet forecast, predicting total global revenue from tablet devices like Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab will increase from US$16 billion in 2010 to a whopping $46 billion in 2014.

“The growth in this market is unprecedented,” says Dmitriy Molchanov, Yankee Group analyst and author of the forecast. “The tablet sales curve is rising faster than that of HDTVs, handheld gaming consoles or even MP3 players.”