iPad 'gains 80% of tablet market'

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27 September 2011 Last updated at 16:00 GMT Apple's iPad, now in its second generation, has proven a big hit with consumers Apple's iPad captured 80% of the tablet computer market in the US and Canada in April to July, a report has said.

The iPad accounted for six million of all 7.5 million tablets shipped in North America during the second quarter of 2011, according to research group Strategy Analytics.

It described Apple as a "formidable market leader".

Yet it added that Amazon - which is expected to unveil its own tablet this week - could become a big challenger.

'Strong brand'

Stategy Analytics senior analyst Alex Spektor said: "Apple remains a long way ahead of its main rivals such as Motorola, Samsung, RIM, Asus and HTC.

"A combination of cool branding, user-friendly hardware, entertaining services and savvy retail distribution has made Apple a formidable market leader."

According to reports, online retailer Amazon could announce the release of its first tablet as early as Wednesday.

"Provided the pricing, screen size and hardware design are right, Amazon can be one of the main challengers to Apple's dominance," said Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics.

"Like Apple, Amazon has a strong brand, compelling content, sophisticated billing systems and widespread distribution.

"In effect, Amazon's new tablet product represents a good opportunity to place an Amazon shopping cart in the hands of American consumers, offering optimised access to purchasing digital content or physical goods from the Amazon online store."

The continuing popularity of Apple's iPad comes despite its incompatibility with Adobe Flash software, meaning that users cannot view a large number of online videos.

Rivals such as Samsung are quick to highlight in their advertising that their tablets are able to use Flash.

Apple and Samsung, which makes the Galaxy range of tablets, are also continuing a number of legal disputes over patents.

On Monday, Apple declined to comment on reports that it had cut orders for iPad parts from its suppliers because of falling sales.

The study by an Asian analyst of US bank JPMorgan Chase said several suppliers had indicated that Apple had reduced its orders by 25%.

The iPad was first released in April 2010, with the second version, the iPad 2, following in March of this year.

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AIDS vaccine hunt gains clues

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AIDS vaccine researchers say they have some new clues to help focus their search for a safe and effective vaccine against HIV.

At the AIDS Vaccine conference in Bangkok on Tuesday, scientists announced an update to a Thai trial of a "modestly effective" experimental AIDS vaccine.

At the end of the initial 3?-year study, the vaccine prevented infection in about 30 per cent of the 16,000 Thai volunteers who received it compared with a placebo.

The new findings shed light on how the vaccine worked by identifying how the immune system responded to it.

Scientists have also discovered a part of HIV that may be vulnerable to a vaccine, which means scientists now have some idea of how the vaccine worked, and how to do more focused research.

"It might be possible in the future to do vaccine trials with many fewer people much more rapidly so we could see progress occurring a lot more rapidly," said U.S. army Col. Jerome Kim, one of the leaders of the Thai trial. The new AIDS vaccine findings could make it possible in the future to conduct vaccine trials with fewer people. (Apichart Weerawong/Associated Press)

Stephen Kent, a vaccine researcher at the University of Melbourne, described the antibodies produced by the vaccine as "friends with benefits."

"They don't necessarily prevent infection of cells but it allows them to kill infected cells," said Kent. "So it may be that that really helps protection."

The findings, along with the development of a test for the antibody response, may focus and speed up the vaccine research.

Scientists want to take the findings back to the lab or clinic to try to improve the effectiveness of the Thai vaccine. Results suggested that protection against HIV appeared highest at six to 12 months, which investigators hope to sustain or boost.

But the vaccine and the immune response it created were specific to the type of HIV in Thailand, and the vaccine formulation used there, scientists cautioned.

The findings suggested the vaccine had no effect on the amount of virus in the blood of those who became infected with HIV. Vaccination did seem to be associated with lower amounts of virus in genital fluids.

New trials will begin this fall in Thailand to test a booster, and a similar vaccine trial is being planned in South Africa to try to replicate the Thai results.

Despite the excitement, scientists agreed that before an HIV vaccine can be licensed for use, it will have to be more broadly effective, which is years away.

The research was funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command, the U.S. National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' AIDS division, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The conference runs through Thursday.

With files from CBC's Pauline Dakin Accessibility Links

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