"iSuppli's ... research shows that satisfied users are likely to go back to the same brand for their next purchase," said Alexander of the tablet market. "In all likelihood, Apple already has developed a solid future customer base, which will continue to strengthen, barring a major stumble on an upcoming product release."

iSuppli's sales and market share estimates were in line with those from rival research firm IDC two weeks ago. Because IDC pegged worldwide tablet sales at a half million higher than iSuppli, its guess on Apple's share was slightly lower. IDC estimated Samsung's sales at a higher number of 2.4 million, giving it a larger share of 9.6%.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at , on or subscribe to . His email address is .

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in Computerworld's Tablets Topic Center.