• by Steve Smith  @popeyesm, October 18, 2011

Even a phenomenon like the iPad and tablet formats generally cannot beat one of the worst global recessions in world history. Digitimes research reports today that third-quarter tablet shipments worldwide reached 18.7 million units -- brisk, but up only 27.5% from the previous quarter compared to a 60.9% sequential rise between Q1 and Q2 2011.

Even the mighty Apple was impacted by a slowing economy, as the 13 million iPads Digitimes says were shipped missed the manufacturer’s internal estimates for the quarter. iPad sales were up 36.8%, the researchers say.

Things were much worse for the Apple wannabes, however.

The failure of competitive tablets to lure consumers left the other tech players stuck with high inventory loads and product delays. Companies tried to reposition their hardware after initial false starts at cracking the market. Non-iPad tablet shipments rose only 10.1% in Q3 over Q2.     

Whatever the relative slowdown in tablet sales, the growth in the platform remains formidable. In Q3 2010, Digitimes shows that 5 million iPads shipped, less than half the number shipped in the same period this year.