Here in the United States, there is only one undisputed champion in the tablet market and it goes by the name of iPad - but in South Africa, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is finding some traction.

There is really no other tablet that comes even close to the sales volume of the iPad in the U.S. and other developed countries where both the iPad and other Android tablets are sold.

And looking at the Android tablet market, the Amazon Kindle Fire is the dominant force in the same demographics.

But in South Africa, the story is a bit different.  

Although yes, the iPad is big kid on the block in the tablet market, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is giving the iPad a run for its money.  Since the iPad was launched in South Africa back in April 2010, there have been 205,00o total units sold.

Impressive numbers for South Africa to be sure.

But look at what Samsung is achieving with sales figures.  The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is selling at a clip of around 20,000 units per month in South Africa.

But the tablet offering from Samsung doesn’t stop there – they also have a the Galaxy Tab 7.0 (Samsung’s 7 inch Android tablet) which is also selling strong, comparatively speaking.

According to Samsung’s Chief Operating Officer for Africa, George Ferreira, Samsung has sold 180,000 tablets in South Africa since the beginning of 2011.  

This equates to around the same volume that Apple is selling the iPad at in South Africa.  And most of the Samsung Galaxy Tab sales have come through mobile phone providers offering data contracts with bundles.

In the United States, and every major developed country in the world, the iPad dominates the tablet market.  But in South Africa, the iPad has just a little over 50% of the tablet market with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 7.0 both competing strong against the iPad.

The only question I have is this:  is what’s happening in South Africa a reflection of what’s to come in the United States’ tablet market?  Or perhaps in other developed countries in the world where both the iPad and the Galaxy Tab are being sold?

My guess would be no.

And the reason I say “no” is because of the Amazon Kindle Fire.  The Kindle Fire is currently only sold in the United States.  And here in the U.S., the Kindle Fire absolutely and definitively dominates the Android tablet market.

So once Amazon opens up the Kindle Fire to the global market place, I would venture to say that the Galaxy Tab market will be diminished dramatically.

What do you think?

Can Samsung’s Galaxy Tab actually compete against the iPad – or the Kindle Fire for that matter – in places like the United States or other developed countries in the world?